Floricultiiral and Botanical Notices. 149 



Iconography of the Camellia is now nearly completed, 

 and upwards of two hundred varieties have already been 

 figured comprising, among those last published, several very 

 splendid flowers, raised by amateur cultivators in Italy. 

 We shall take an early opportunity to name those most 

 worthy of introduction, and give some description of the 

 flowers. 



Some elegant new seedlings produced by our amateur 

 cultivators and nurserymen have recently ilowered for the 

 first time, and promise to rival any that have been raised. 

 One of the best of these was grown in Philadelphia by Mr. 

 J. B. Smith, of whose success in raising fine seedlings we 

 have before spoken (Vol. VIII, p. 41). Our correspondent, 

 Mr. P. Mackenzie, who owns the stock, and in whose col- 

 lection it flowered, thus speaks of it : — 



Camellia japonica, var. Stiles's Perfection. I have the 

 pleasure of informing you of a very fine camellia I exhibi- 

 ted at the last meeting of our Horticultural Society. I 

 have named it Stiles's Perfection, in honor of Mrs. Benja- 

 min Stiles of this city, a great admirer and patron of horti- 

 culture. It is a vigorous shrub : leaves four inches long, 

 two and a half inches wide, ovate, oblong, dentate, acumi- 

 nate, of a clear shining green : flower four inches in diam- 

 eter, very double, regular, of a deep cherry red ; petals 

 emarginate, gracefully imbricated from the centre to the 

 circumference, and numerous. It is a very fine variety. 

 The credit of its growth is due to J. B. Smith, Esq., of 

 whom I purchased the plant on mere chance, in 1838, at 

 which time it was about eight inches high, with a single 

 bud upon the top, but without strength to open it. The 

 appearance of the bud on cutting it open was so favorable 

 that I purchased it. I shall offer it for sale in the spring of 

 1844.— P. Mackenzie, Philadelphia, March 3, 1843. 



Upon this, and another seedling raised by Mr. Sherwood, 

 our old "Amateur" correspondent thus remarks: 



Our monthly meetings of the Horticultural Society are 

 still crowded, and the exhibitions interesting, both from the 

 rarity of many of the plants, as well as their fine appear- 

 ance and culture. 



Mr. Mackenzie exhibited at the last meeting a very fine 

 seedling camellia (Stiles's Perfection), raised by Jolin B. 

 Smith. Color a dark cherry, unique in its kind, a fine full 

 regular flower, four inches in diameter ; leaves a dark shin- 



