The ICS - 50th anniversary 2012

Now celebrating its Golden Anniversary year, the International Camellia Society is a vibrant group of 2,000 people in 26 countries who share one passion: the camellia.  Camellia blooms light our autumns, winters and springs when few other plants are flowering.  The blooms exhibit a wide variety of shapes and forms.  Single forms can be breathtaking in simplicity and purity; more complex forms can be outrageously large and showy.  Some camellias are glamorous ornamental specimens while others are the most widely grown agricultural crop plants in the world – tea, which is, botanically, Camellia sinensis.

The celebration of this beloved flower by the ICS, however, has a mundane foundation.  The society was founded to meet the specific challenge of making sense of the tangled taxonomy that bedevilled the global camellia world.  There were two basic problems, reflecting the need of regional marketers to find appealing names: some camellias had different names around the world, while some names were being used for different camellias.

In 1962 a small band of camellia growers and gardeners formed the International Camellia Society to serve as the internationally recognized registrar for the genus.  After some fitful early efforts, their work eventually led to publication in 1992 of the International Camellia Register, one of the very first comprehensive registers for any floral genus.

Most of the work was dull and dusty slogging through records and publications both modern and historical, to list tens of thousands of names.  But within a year, that small band of people was joined by hundreds of others who realized the delight to be found in socializing with other like-minded people, and visiting fine gardens, around the world.  They were pioneering the concept that we now call networking: they swapped notes on everything from camellia propagation to designing camellia gardens, made new friends from around the world, and occasionally even found romantic interest!

On the scientific front, the ICS provides advice on all areas of camellia interest, including cultivation, nomenclature, and registration of camellias.   All members receive the annual International Camellia Journal, which contains articles about camellia cultivation, research, and other activities in all parts of the world.

On the social front, the primary opportunity comes through the official congress, held every 18 months or two years.   Our future Congresses will be held in Galicia, Spain, and northern Portugal (2014); Dali, Yunnan, China (2016); Nantes, Brittany, France (2018); and Goto Island, Japan (2020).   Past congresses were held in Locarno, Switzerland (2005); Melbourne, Australia (2006);  Falmouth, Cornwall, UK (2008); Kurume, Japan (2010); and Chuxiong, Yunnan, China (2012).  It would give us great pleasure to welcome you as members at our congresses to come.

Patricia L. Short

President

The International Camellia Society