31.
CAMELLIA JAPONICA INSIGNIS.
M r . Ch a n d le r's S p le n d id Camellia.
Camellia J a p o n ica In sig n is. C am e llia B r ita n n ic a , p i. 6.
THIS is a favourite variety with most cultivators, and there are now few
collections in which i t does n o t hold a conspicuous place. I t was raised
b y Messrs. Chandler, a t th e Vauxhall Nursery, about eleven years ag o ;
b u t i t is not more than six years since it began to be generally cultivated.
I t is of robust growth, and flowers very freely. The hab it of the p lan t
shews i t to have been raised from the Waratáh, to which it has a great
resemblance in the size, form, and dark green colour of its leaves; b u t
th ey differ in being flatter, and less revolute a t the p o in t and edges.
The serratures are likewise larger and deeper th an in the Wa ra táh, and
the midrib appears to be of a paler colour, and more prominent. In other
respects, the leaves of the two plants seem the same.
The flower buds are about an inch long, and not so much pointed
as those o f the Waratáh. They are generally of a roundish-oval form,
and a pale silvery green, seldom coloured, unless perhaps a little a t the
edge of th e scales.
The flowers, by some, are considered to surpass those of its parent;
but, in our opinion, they are neither so perfectly douhle, nor so shewy.
They are a t first bell-shaped, like the single-red Camellia; by degrees
the large outer petals, which are usually seven or eight in number, unfold
and exhibit a dense globular mass of small wedge-shaped petals, more or
less variegated w ith red and white, like a carnation, and incurved towards
the styles, which rise conspicuous in th e centre. When the outer petals
are expanded, the flowers measure about three inches across. The petals
themselves exceed an inch in diameter; a t th e apex they are indented,
h u t otherwise they are flat, and round, and of a deep rose colour, indistin
c tly marked with darker coloured veins. The in n e r petals are very
small, and ranged over one another, like those of the Waratáh. In the