Bullata

Pre-16th century. Parentage unknown, but likely from Rosa protei, the so-called "shape-shifting rose". Often discounted as mythical, there is ample reason to believe that this mysterious rose actually existed in medieval times. Once established, the color, shape, scent, even growth habit changed from year to year. It was much sought-after, but could not be propagated by cuttings - these just produced static replicas of the form from which they were taken.

The plant responded to the nature, moods, heart, and even dreams of the gardener who tended it: a delicate pale Alba for this one, a deep red climber for another; for some it died outright in a mass of blackened foliage.

Some within the church came to associate it with heresy and the devil, and ultimately a papal decree ordered that all specimens were to be destroyed. Heartbroken gardeners took cuttings. Even though they knew that this was futile, it was a way of preserving some memory of the rose, like a faded photograph of a beloved, departed relative. Many of the older roses known today as "parentage unknown" have, at various times, been claimed as descendants of these cuttings.