(C.japonica), Haggerston, 1850, Magazine of Horticulture, p.141, 142: “From Hovey and

Co. a seedling camellia; form of flower rounded to the centre and full; petals broad and

smooth, generally perfect; colour a bright crimson scarlet; size of flower, large.” It was

exhibited at the Massachusetts Horticultural Society as Seedling I in 1853 and awarded the

Society’s large gold medal. Their description was as follows: “Leaves, large, 12.5 cm long by

5 cm wide, ovate acuminate, deep green, glossy, finely nerved, slightly wavy, large and

coarsely dentated. Flower buds, obtusely ovate with clear greenish scales. Flower, very large,

11 cm in diameter, full and perfectly double to the centre and of great depth. Colour; rich,

vivid crimson scarlet. Petals; large, bold, imbricated, symmetrically arranged and nearly entire

to the edge. Habit Very robust and vigorous, flowering freely.” Hovey offered the variety for

sale in 1878 at Covent Gardens, London. It was described with the name C.M. Hovey in the

Gardeners’ Chronicle, 2nd ser.11:422, 1879 with the announcement that it had received a First

Class Certificate from the RHS. Orthographic variants of the name that have been published

include: ‘Charles Mason Hovey’, ‘Hovey C.M.’ and ‘Charles Hovey’. Orthographic errors:

‘C.E. Hovey’, ‘C.N. Hovey’, ‘C.M. Hovez’. Synonyms include: ‘Colonel Firey’, ‘Firey King’,

‘William S. Hastie’, ‘Mississippi Hastie’, ‘William S. Hastie’(Miss.), ‘Solaris’, ‘Colonel

Fyrie’, ‘C.M. Hovey Number 66’. In America the names Duc de Devonshire, Anne

Lindberg and Rubra Plena have been erroneously applied to this cultivar, while the name

C.H. Hovey has been erroneously used for ‘Pauline’, the variegated form of Julia Drayton as

‘Mathotiana Variegated’ or ‘Mathotiana Rubra Variant’. For Colour illustrations: Hume,

1946, Camellias in America facing p.16; Macoboy, 1981, The Colour Dictionary of

Camellias, p.73; American Camellia Yearbook, 1949, facing p.83. It produces variegated

forms known as Scarlett O’Hara and Bradford’s Variegated. The Chinese synonym is

‘Huowei’.