Here is the plant, found on a roadside, no house or building anywhere around.

Never having seen 'Cardinal de Richelieu' in person, it's hard to get a feel for the details, but, some pictures of the flower and plant look very similar.

Here is a link that might be useful: 'Cardinal de Richelieu' at HMF

Wow what a lucky find! If you don't get an answer on this forum, ask on the 'Antique Rose' forum that gets more traffic.

From what I can find on the net about 'Cardinal de Richelieu' it does look like this could very well be it. Thanks!

I disagree with the suggestion of 'Cardinal de Richelieu' which has very different bloom form from the rose you show above. There is a Gallica-China hybrid common throughout California (and in Oregon) that Gregg Lowery of Vintage has been calling "Red Runaround" for some time. I suspect that is what you've found.

Some of the photo examples on HMF are incorrect, but most depict the rose accurately. Cass has a good example here:

Here is a link that might be useful: Red Runaround.

The complete HMF listing:

Here is a link that might be useful: Red Runaround, complete listing.

Thanks. Very possible. It could be Runaround.

Another reason it's not 'Cardinal de Richelieu' is the spines -- mine has smooth canes. Could another possibility be "Double Plum?"

:-)

~Christopher

Here is a link that might be useful: Double Plum at HelpMeFind

Hmm. Could be. from what I can see it looks very similar in flower and habit to Red Runaround. Maybe darker in color? Mine is very dark. Hard to imagine anyone calling it red.