342 DR. SEEMANN'S SYNOPSIS OF THE 



San sa, vii/ffo Jamma Tsubakki, Kasmpf. Amoen. Exot. p. 850, cum ic. p. 851 (1712). 



Thea Canidlia, Hoftm. ex Steudl. Nom. Bot. i. p. 265 (1841). 



Camellia Kcempferiana, Reboul, Atti della Tercia Riunione, p. 494, ex Wlprs. Ann. ii. p. 178 (1851-52). 



Nomina reriiacul. In Japonia, " Tsubaki, Jabu tsubaki" (i.e. Camellia sylvestris), a Chinensibus 

 "San tsja" (i.e. Thea montana) vocatur. 



Geogr. Distr. Throughout Japan {Ktempfer ! Thunberg ! Siebold !), forming dense woods, which, accord- 

 ing to Siebold, look like those of our young Beeches ; cultivated in China and in European gardens. 



I have not seen Avild specimens of this species from China, nor am I acquainted with 

 any account of its having been found wild there. Champion thought he discovered it 

 at Hongkong ; but the species he took for Japonica turns out to be quite a distinct one 

 (C. Uougkougensis, Seem.). The Chiaese have from time immemorial cultivated C. 

 Japonica in then- gardens. In Europe it became known in the beginning of the eighteenth 

 century, and the first figure of it was published in 1702 in Petiver's ' Gazophylacium.' 

 Strange to add, though there are thousands of representations of the various varieties of 

 this Camellia, yet we do not possess a single plate exhibiting the normal state of it. The 

 form figured by Siebold and Zuccarini in their 'Flora Japonica' has semi-double 

 flowers. 



2. C. HoNGKONGENsis (Tab. LX.) ; arborea ; ramulis petioUsque glabris, foliis ovato-lan- 

 ceolatis vel lanceolatis acuminatis, subtus venis tenuibus distinctis, floribus inodoris, 

 petalis (rubris) obovatis emarginatis, staminibus glabris, ovario stylisque liberis 

 lanatis ; capsula (glabra ?). (v. v. sp.) 



Camellia Hongkongensis, Seem. MSS. 



C. Japonica, Champ, in Hooker's Journ. of Bot. and Kew Misc. iii. p. 309 (1851), non Linn. ! ; Champ. 



in Trans. Linn. Soc. xxi. p. 112 (1853) ; Seem. Bot. Herald, p. 367. n. 68 (1857). 

 Geogr. Distr. Cochinchina-Tourane [Gaudichaud, n. 271, in Herb. Par.!); Island of Hongkong {Eyre\ 



Bowring\ Champion\ Hance\ Seemannl). 



This species was discovered in January 1837 by Gaudichaud in Cochinchina, and about 

 1849 by Lieut.-Colonel Eyre, of the Royal Artillery, in the island of Hongkong, where it 

 grows in company with Castanea concinna, Qnercus hamhusmfolia, Thea salicifolia, &c. ; 

 it was afterwards collected by Bowring, Champion, Hance, and myself. Only three 

 trees are known to exist in Hongkong. In a paper read November 5, 1850, before the 

 Linnean Society, and published in 1853 in our Transactions, Capt. Champion took it for 

 the true Camellia Japonica of Linnaeus ; and so did Mr. Bentham and myself in oui* 

 respective enumerations of the plants of Hongkong. A more recent examination and 

 comparison with a large set of specimens of the genuine C. Japonica, Linn., has, how- 

 ever, led me to consider the Camellia found by Gaudichaud and Eyre as indeed allied to, 

 but vei'y distinct from, C. Japonica, Linn. It differs from C. Japonica in the shape and 

 dark-green colour of its leaves, in its free styles and woolly ovary ; otherwise it has very 

 much the habit of the common single pink variety of C. Japonica, and is easily mistaken 

 for that species if the important differences pointed out be overlooked. Champion de- 

 scribes the capsule as " smooth," thereby meaning most probably " glabrous," as he has 

 previously described that of C. sp)ectabilis as " sericeous," and he adds that it is more 

 than an inch in diameter. 



