22 . 
CAMELLIA JAPONICA IMBRICATA. 
Crimson-shell Camellia. 
Camellia Japonica Imbricata. Horticultural Transactions, vol. 7. 
AT folio 12, we had occasion to mention this variety, which is unques¬ 
tionably one of the best that has lately been imported from China. 
It is of vigorous growth, with large, thick, dark green leaves, usually 
four inches and a half long, and from two, to two and a half inches 
broad, waved and tapering to a sharp point; the serratures are shallow 
and blunt, and in the old leaves scarcely discernible, especially towards 
the footstalk. The midrib is prominent and strong, particularly on the 
under side, and much paler than the leaves. The footstalks are also of 
a palish green, thick and strong, usually about three quarters of an inch 
in length, nearly round, excepting on the upper side, which is slightly 
channelled. 
The flower buds are almost round, and very large; the scales are 
also round, slightly pubescent, and of a palish green, becoming a little 
brown at the edges, as the flower opens, and tinged with red. 
The flowers are upwards of three inches in diameter, and extremely 
regular in their formation, the petals being ranged one above another, 
and gradually diminishing in size towards the centre, exactly in the 
manner of the double-white. The colour is a fine crimson red, and re¬ 
markably shewy. The outer petals are nearly round, and are each 
upwards of an inch in diameter. When the flower begins to open, they 
are all cupped or concave; but, as it expands, they become quite flat, 
and those at the extremity are a little recurved. 
The centre petals are somewhat pointed, and rise upright. They are 
so numerous, and laid over one another with so much regularity, that not 
a single stamen can be observed. Some of the petals between the centre 
and circumference of the flower, have a faint white stripe, extending 
