CAMELLIA 



285 



point, shallowly toothed, quite smooth, often specked with black dots on the 

 lower surface, and of firm, leathery texture. Flowers red, solitary at the end 

 of the branchlets, stalkless, 2^ to 4 ins. across ; petals normally five, but usually 

 more in cultivated plants. Stamens numerous, arranged in a ring. Seeds f to I 

 in. long, half as wide ; often flattened on several sides through compression. 



Few exotic shrubs have filled a more important place in our greenhouses 

 than the common camellia has in -its time, but its merits as a hardy plant have 

 never been fully appreciated. Whilst it is not adapted for exposed, windy 

 positions, it is perfectly hardy near London, in places where there is moderate 

 shelter from north and east. At Kew it has withstood 3 1 degrees of frost without 

 suffering in the least. It is, indeed, one of the most satisfactory of hardy ever- 

 greens, there being no other except, perhaps, the laurels with quite the same 

 lustrous black-green hue. This camellia is a native of Japan and China, and 

 according to Sargent, the flowers in a wild state do not open fully, but remain 

 cup-shaped till they fall. The oil expressed from the seeds is used by the 

 Japanese women for dressing the hair. The species first became known in 



CAMELLIA CUSPIDATA. 



Europe about the beginning of the eighteenth century, and Ynany fine 

 varieties were imported from China ; others were raised in England from 

 eighty to one hundred and twenty years ago. As is generally known, these 

 have flowers pure white, of various shades of red, deep scarlet, striped, and of 

 various degrees of "doubleness." About the middle of the nineteenth century 

 the camellia had become perhaps the most popular of greenhouse flowers ; 

 its prim stiffness and solidity was not an inappropriate floral emblem of that 

 period. Afterwards its popularity declined. 



In the open air it flowers from April to June, and perhaps the best forms 

 for out-of-doors are the semi-double and single red-flowered ones, which appear 

 to open better than the very double ones, and to suffer less from late spring 

 frosts. But any variety that has become too large for the greenhouse should 

 be tried in the open air, for the sake of its foliage, if its flowers fail. It should 

 be remembered that plants turned out of pots or tubs in which the roots have 

 become matted require careful watering until the roots have spread into the 

 surrounding ground. The single-flowered varieties may be propagated by 

 cuttings made from firm wood about the end of June and placed in heat. 

 It is best to treat them at first as cool greenhouse plants, as they grow 

 more quickly. The fine double varieties are usually grafted on the cuttings of 

 the single ones. 



