GENERA CAMELLIA AND THEA. 343 



3. C. RETICULATA ; arborca ; ramulis pctiolisque sericeo-pubescentibus, foliis oblongis vel 

 lanceolatis, subtus reticulatis, floribus inodoris, petalis (albis vel in var. fl. pi. varie- 

 gatis) rotundato-oliovatis emarginatis, staminibus glabris, ovario, stylis subliberis 

 capsulaquc sericeis (v. s. sp. etv. c.)- 



Camellia spectabilis, Champ, in Hook. Journ. of Bot. and Kew Misc. iii. p. 310(1851) ; Champ, in Trans. 



Linn. Soc. xxi. p. Ill (1853); Chois. in Mem. Soc. Geneve, xiv. i. p. 148 (1855); Seem. Bot. 



Herald, p. 36?. t. 78. p. 432 (1857) ; Seem, in Bonplandia, vi. p. 276 (1858). 

 Var. flore plena; fl. plena, Hook. Bot. Mag. t. 4976 (185?) ; Van Hout. Fl. des Ser. t, 1282-3 (1857). 

 C. relkulala, Lindl. Bot. Reg. 1. 1078 (1827) ; Booth in Hort. Soc. Trans, vii. p. 528 (1830) ; Chois. in 



M^m. Soc. Geneve, xiv. i. p. 147 (1855). 

 Geagr. Distr. Island of Hongkong (£yre ! Champion'.). Cultivated in European gardens. 



The double state of this Camellia was first figured and described by Dr. Lindley in tlie 

 ' Botanical Register,' t. 1078, from living specimens imported from Chinese gardens, 

 while the normal state (with single flowers) was entirely unknown till discovered about 

 twenty years afterwards in the woods of Hongkong by Capt. Champion. The discoverer 

 did not, however, recognize it as such, but mistook it for a new species, to which he gave 

 the name of C. spectabilis in a paper read November 1850 before the Linnean Society, and 

 published in our Transactions. Bentham enumerated it under Champion's name in his 

 ' Florula Hongkongensis.' When I went over the same ground (Bot. Herald, p. 3G7), I 

 was struck with the great resemblance existing between C. reticulata, Lindl., and C. spec- 

 tabilis. Champ. ; but not having at that time good specimens for comparison, I contented 

 myself with remarking, in the Supplement to my Hongkong Flora (Bot. Herald, p. 432), 

 of C. spectabilis — " This species is closely allied to C. reticulata, Lindl." Afterwards I 

 was fortunate enough to obtain complete specimens of C. reticulata, Lindl., through the 

 kindness of my friend Mr. Edward Otto of Hambui'g, and was thus enabled to establisli 

 (Bonplandia, vi. p. 276) the identity of C. spectabilis and C. reticulata as species : as 

 varieties they are distinct : the form described by Champion, having single white flowers, 

 is the normal state, while that described by Lindley, having double red flowers variegated 

 with white, is the abnormal state. In a horticultm'al point of vieAV, this identification is 

 of some importance. Although our florists have as yet taken little notice of C. reticulata, 

 we have already the two principal tints displayed by its ally the C. Japonica, viz. the 

 white and the red. It therefore now behoves them to take this species in hand, and 

 endeavour to raise it in horticultural eyes to a standard of perfection ; for although the 

 flowers of C. reticulata are destitute of that compactness pecviliar to C. Japonica, and 

 rather remind us of a Paeony, yet they have this in their favour, that they are of much 

 arger size than those of C. Japonica — some specimens of the double variety observed 

 by Su' W. J. Hooker actually measuring 20 inches in ciixumference, and being the largest 

 floral development as yet recorded among the Camellias. 



4. C. Sasanqtja ; fruticosa vel arborescens ; ramulis pctiolisque puberulis, foliis eUipticis 

 vel ovato-lanceolatis acutis, siibtus subaveniis, floribus inodoris, petalis (albis) ob- 

 cordato-emarginatis vel bilobis, staminibus glabris, ovario lanato, stylis connatis, 

 capsula pubescente. (v. s. sp. et v. c.) 



