Sherry,
Which rose did you purchase? If you bought a rose called "Bermuda Anna Olivier", then yes, it is likely EdL. If you bought a rose called 'Anna Olivier', then it is possibly not EdL. This summer, at Mottisfont, Anita and I were lucky enough to spend time with 3 of the Australian Tea authors and witness comparisons of various tea roses. IIRC, EdL has more of a squarish peduncle whereas the true Anna Olivier is rounder. Billy had an Excel type spreadsheet listing the botanic characteristics of the tea roses and it enabled her to compare different cultivars. The Tea authors toured the US, Bermuda, UK and France this summer, so they looked at A LOT of roses. I'd trust their conclusions re: "Bermuda Anna Olivier" being the same as EdL. Cass' plant in her post is "Bermuda Anna Olivier", thus EdL. The true 'Anna Olivier' is a different color rose, has more pinkish coloration and not as yellow. (Cass also grows "Schmidt's Buff Giant" which is felt to be the real 'Anna Olivier')
Look at the botanic characteristics of your rose and compare them to what is written in the Tea Roses book to see which rose you have.
Janelle

Here's Billy's comment.

Here is a link that might be useful: Bermuda's Anna Olivier comments on HMF

The rose grown in Florida as Etoile de Lyon is a clear, solid yellow, whereas that grown as Bermuda's Anna Olivier tends to have some other shades, sometimes including some pink or orangish color. Granted it's not as pink as what is believed, here, to be the "real" Anna Olivier. But the two roses we've grown under those names were not at all alike. Of course, I can't prove what we had as Etoile de Lyon was right...

I just went out and looked at several receptacles of buds and open flowers. They are not square as on the Australian book's page 99 photo of EdL except for one tiny bud, much smaller than the one in the book. My rose was named 'Anna Olivier' and was bought locally. I only started calling it Bermuda's after I saw the photos on HMF. Mine has never had any pinkish coloration. The bush looks like Cass' photo and the photo in the Tea Rose book. So where does this leave me?

Sherry

Where does it leave you? Growing a rose which does well for you and pleases you. No matter what its name, I'd say you've won! Kim

We had a "Bermuda's Anna Olivier" at the Heritage at one time, and I recall it being nearly white, and not being Anna Olivier. The outermost petals of Etoile de Lyon are always bad looking- crinkled, crepe-papery. I don't recall seeing that on our plant of BAO, either, so I'm not convinced of that ID either.
Jill

Yeah, Kim, I've still got a beautiful rose, but I have labels on my roses, and now I don't know what name to put on the label. Kind of obsessive, I know, but...

Jill, the outer petals on mine get brown and crinkly, and she is basically cream colored most of the time in my heat - but beautiful.

Sherry

My EdL almost always has brown petals around the outside of the bloom, and then ALWAYS hangs on and turns brown long after the bloom is finished.
Also, the growth is not as twiggy as most teas. Thick canes, though not upright like HTs.

Sherry, if "Schmidt's Buff Giant" is really the original Anna Olivier (as it seems to be so far), then I have no idea what your rose is, but if it "never has had any pinkish coloration" then it cannot be AO. My AO (the original Schmidt's Buff Giant) has pinkish coloration on its outer petals about 80% of the time. The rest of the time, depending on the weather, the bush can put out all light yellow blooms, all light pink blooms, and recently, even all almost white blooms! Last week it even put out a couple of blooms with dark/bright pink/orange coloration on the outer petals, just like the cool weather AO pics from Australia. However, the normal blooms are buff with a brick/pink color on the outer petals.

So, I agree with Kim - you now have an "unknown" beautiful old tea rose - if you need a label for it, you might label it "NOT Anna Olivier". I have no opinion about the BAO - Etoile de Lyon discussion, as I have never seen EdL. It does look like a beautiful rose, however.

I just looked up AO on Help Me Find again. It is sort of confusing that so much info under that page is really about "Bermuda Anna Olivier" , which is not AO at all - perhaps that info should be moved to its own page, or to the Etoile de Lyon page? Just a thought -

Jackie

I would have to disagree that you have an unknown -- you have "Bermuda's Anna Olivier." That's a good ID. Not registered, not the "real" Anna, but still, a good, found name, with a valid history. I rather like that.

OH, I DO agree with Malcolm!

Give me a rose whose origin has been lost, but has acquired over time a valid history of its own, and I am happy. In fact, I'm usually disappointed when a "real" identity is discovered, superseding the "Study Name."
Yeah, I'm a hopeless romantic.

Jeri

Thank you, Malcolm and Jeri. I like your perspective. I felt that same disappointment when I thought mine could be EdL - strange reaction. May I ask what the "valid history" of Bermuda's Anna Olivier is? When and where was it found? I looked on the RosesInBermuda website, but they don't mention BAO, and HMF doesn't say much at all.

Sherry