544 Description of the Species of Camellia and Thea. 



but in neither of these works is it stated when it was intro- 

 duced. A third figure has since been published in Loddiges's 

 Botanical Cabinet, p. 354, where it is mentioned as having 

 been very rare in 1811, when Mr. Aiton presented them with 

 a cutting of it. A few years afterwards it was in great re- 

 pute, and began to be common in the Nurseries about London. 

 It is usually received from China for the Hexangularis, a 

 variety no less remarkable for the regular disposition of its 

 petals, than for the peculiar elegance of its flowers, which are 

 admirably represented in the Society's collection of Chinese 

 drawings. This variety however has not yet been imported, 

 or at least the flowers have never been observed to become 

 hexangular in this country. It might really be questioned 

 whether they do so in China, if the drawings of the other sorts 

 with which we are acquainted were not in general so accurate 

 as to place the matter beyond a doubt. 



Besides the plants of the Myrtle-leaved that were brought 

 for the Society in 1818 by Captain Astel, and in 1821 by 

 Captain Jamieson, others were presented by W. Kent, 

 Esq. Mr. Chandeer, and Messrs. Young, of Epsom. As 

 the Large Myrtle-leaved and Small Myrtle-leaved, there 

 were plants of it purchased from Mr. Knight, in the 

 King's Road, which on flowering proved to be both the 

 same. Mr. Lee has subsequently presented the Society 

 with a plant which is cultivated by him under the name 

 of the Large-flowering Myrtle-leaved, but it does not appear 

 to be different from the variety above described. 



