I 



GENERA CAMELLIA AND THEA. 351 



ADDENDA. (October 1859.) 



After the foregoing paper had been printed off, a fine specimen of Fortune's " Yellow 

 Camellia " flowered at Kew, affording me an opportunity for examination. It proves to 

 be a variety of Camellia Sasanqua, Thunb., of the Warratah or Anemone Class, and may 

 be termed 



Camellia Sasanqua, var. y. anemon^flora ; foliis ovato-lanceolatis longe acuminatis, 

 floribus plenis, petalis exterioribus (albis) obovato-oblongis bilobis, staminibus fere 

 omnibus in petalos spathulatos (flavos) exterioribus multo brcviores mutatis, stylis 5 

 (rarissime abortu 4) Uberis vel connatis, fructu (v. v. cult.). 



Camellia Sasanqua, Thunb., var. y, anemonxflora, Seem. MSS.; Bot. Mag. t. . (ined.). 



Yelloio Camellia, R. Fortune, Journ. to TeaCountr. p. 339 (1852) ; Gard. Chron. for 1852, p. 259; Seem. 



in Gard. Chron. for 1859, p. 80?. 

 Fortune's Gelbe Camellia, Bonplandia, vii. n. 19 (1859). 



" Those who have read my ' "Wanderings in China,' " says Mr. Fortune (Joiu'ney to the 

 Tea Countries, p. 339. London, 1852), " may remember a story I told of my endeavoui's to 

 find a Yelloio Camellia, — how I offered five dollars for one, — how a Chinaman soon found 

 two instead of one, — and how he got the money and I got taken in ! In one of those 

 nurseries (about ten or twelve mUes eastward of Shanghae), however, I found a Yellow 

 Camellia, and it was in full bloom when I bought it. It is certainly a most cm-ious plant, 

 although not very handsome. The fiowers belong to the Anemone or Warratah Class ; 

 the outer petals are of a French white, and the iuner ones of a primrose-yeUow. It 

 appears to be a very distinct species in foliage, and may probably turn out more hardy 

 than any of its race." 



Fortune's supposition that his " Yellow Camellia " might be a distinct species has not 

 been verified, nor is the plant in question to be regarded as a variety of Camellia Japonica. 

 The latter flowers towards the spring, and has quite glabrous leaf-buds, petioles, leaves, 

 and ovaries ; whUst the Yellow Camellia flowers in the autxmm, and has pubescent leaf- 

 buds, petioles, and veins of the leaves, and a woolly ovary, characters agreeing ^vith 

 C. Sasanqua, and it may therefore be safely referred to that species as a Warratah or 

 Anemone-flowered variety, the stamens of which are nearly all transformed into short 

 spathulate petals of a primrose colour. Hitherto the Warratah state was only known to 

 occur in C. Japonica ; and the yellow colour is certainly quite a new feature in tliis 

 genus, deserving the greatest attention of horticulturists. That C. Sasanqua has a 

 tendency to assume a yellow tinge is evident even from the single flowering state, as Avill 

 be seen from the figure in the ' Botanical Register,' t. 912, where the outer series of sta- 

 mens displays the primrose colour peculiar to the Yellow CameUia. I may add that the 

 plate quoted represents the form nearest approaching the plant imder consideration, — the 

 leaves of the Yellow Camellia always being more acuminate than those of the ordinary 

 form usually found in the gardens, and the styles generally (not always) entirely free. This 

 latter particular Fortune's novelty shares with C. Hongkong ensis, Seem., and C. drupifcra, 



