MAY. ]29 



CAMELLIA VALTEVAREDO. 



(Plate 151). 



In former volumes have been recorded the results of different 

 growers' experience in the cultivation of this magnificent 

 flower, and various fine kinds have been figured by us ; we 

 are, however, of opinion that the subject of our present illus- 

 tration yields to none hitherto represented either in beauty 

 of foliage or flowers. The variety must necessarily be a 

 favourite ; for who does not admire a well grown and well . 

 blossomed Camellia, with glossy dark green leaves, and bold- 

 petalled richly coloured flowers ? There are pleasing asso- 

 ciations and peculiarities about this charming plant which 

 mark it out above most other flowers, and it seems to bid fair 

 to be as enduring as to its popularity as the Pelargonium or 

 the Rose. For although our continental neighbours have 

 poured their thousands of Camellias into the British market, 

 and although the Camellia has been planted against walls out 

 of doors, made to form undergrowth in plantations and shrub- 

 beries, and even employed to bedeck the greengrocer's stall, 

 yet nobody thinks a well bloomed Camellia commonplace in 

 character, or beneath their notice. For enlivening the dreary 

 winter or early spring months, we know nothing equal to it, 

 provided its culture is done justice to. 



The grand display of this plant, open to the inspection of 

 everybody, this spring, at Messrs. Milne, Arnott, & Co.'s 

 Nursery, Vauxhall, and the wonderfully fine tree of C. reticu- 

 lata, loaded with its thousands of blooms, at Bank Grove, near 

 Kingston, have both tended greatly to bring the Camellia 

 especially under notice this season. Some account of the 

 beautiful variety, of which the accompanying is a very faithful 

 portrait, may therefore not be out of place at the present time. 



It blossomed most beautifully this spring in the Royal 

 Exotic Nursery, King's Road, Chelsea, and to the spirited 

 proprietor, Mr. James Veitch, we are indebted for an oppor- 

 tunity of figuring it. It is, he believes, an Italian kind, with, 

 as will be seen, most exquisitely formed flowers of medium 

 size, cupped like a Rose, and full to the centre. The habit of 

 the plant is compact, never running into a lean lanky state if 

 properly cultivated ; foliage fine and round, and of medium 

 size. It must, we think, be confessed to be altogether a most 

 beautiful variety, free flowering, and holding its buds on well, 

 especially in a London atmosphere. The plant was, we 

 understand, originally obtained from Belgium. It is believed 



VOL. XII., NO. CXXXVI. K 



