Mutabilis

Unusual scented single blooms that change through yellow and pink to crimson, the flowers are butterfly like and are borne in large masses. It was also named the Butterfly Rose, as when the blooms are all out the bush appears to be covered in a multiude of Butterflies. The name 'Mutabilis' is the Latin word for 'changeable'. Perpetual flowering and can be kept as a shrub but will climb if trained. Shade tolerant. A very old and popular shrub rose. Good disease resistance. Mutablis can be seen growing on Kiftsgate House in the UK and has shot up to about 24 feet.

Of unknown origin, but probably an old Chinese garden rose, and seen recently in China by Mikinori Ogisu. According to Graham Thomas it is first recorded rose in Italy in 1894 when Prince Giberto Borromeo took a specimen to an exposition in Geneva, and it was seen by Henri Correvon; it was growing in the Borromeo garden on Isola Madre in Lago di Maggiore, where it formed a hedge around 2m high. It is said to have come to Italy from the island of Réunion; it was named 'Mutabilis' by Correvon in 1934.

The World Federation Of Rose Societies entered Mutabilis into the Society's Old Rose Hall Of Fame an honour shared with just 11 other roses: Cecile Brunner, Charles de Mills, Glorie de Dijon, Gruss an Teplitz, Madame Alfred Carriere, Madame Hardy, Old Blush, Rosa Gallica Officinalis, Rosa Mundi, Banksiae Lutea and Sourenir de la Malmaison.