The Online Camellia Register

(C. japonica)

Non-extinct

Verschaffelt, 1859, Nouvelle Iconographie, Book VII, pl.I: Originated by M. de Coster, Melle, Belgium. The flowers, larger than average, are formed of small, numerous petals, rounded, even, bilobate at apex and imbricated with rigorous perfection, all of a vivid cherry-red. Leaves light green, ovate, acuminate, 7 cm long x 2 cm wide. Medium compact, upright growth. Blooms mid-season. See illustration, p.111, Macoboy, 1981, The Colour Dictionary of Camellias. In Australia it has been erroneously known as 'Venus de Medicis' since 1871. See pl.II, Waterhouse, 1947, Camellia Quest. In America it was confused and renamed several times - Synonyms: 'Pope Pius IX', 'Rosedale Beauty', 'Ladiner's Red', 'Mrs Harry Davis', 'Imbricata Rubra Plena', 'Queen of Denmark', 'Flore Plena Atrorubens', 'Rubra Plena Imbricata', 'Conte de Name', 'Venus de Medicis'. Abbreviations: 'Prince Napoleon', 'Pr. Eugenio Napoleone'. Names of other cultivars erroneously applied: Rubra Plena, Madame Lebois, Carlotta Grisi. Chinese synonym: 'Popu', later changed to 'Bopu'. Note; Collected Papers, ICS Congress, Kurume 2010, p.94; "Characterization and differentiation....; Jose Luis Couselo et al"; Genotyping of the six specimens belonging to Group 2 Prince Eugene Napoleon revealed that they were two different cultivars of C.japonica.