(C.japonica), The Floral World, 1861. No description. Jean Verschaffelt, 1861-1862,

Price List, p.35: Imbricated double, full centre, crimson scarlet. Each petal marked at the

centre by a white stripe. Obtained from Henderson in sale Oct. 1861. André, 1864, Plantes

des Terres Bruyéres..., p.243: Very beautifully imbricated flower, carmine pink; all the petals

clearly ribboned with metallic white. Illustrated and described in L’Illustration Horticole,

vol.13, 1866 under the name ‘Stella Polare’. The illustration shows definite bands of rosy

white on each petal, while the description reads: “The stripes clearly separate the petals into

two equal parts, forming a veritable star.” Rollisson’s Plant Catalogue, 1877-1878 says:

“Crimson, with a white bar through the centre of each petal”. Van Houtte Catalogue,

1866-1867, 116:49 is different: Flower a little larger than a C.sasanqua, pale red, incurving,

forming a full rose centre and then in his Catalogue, 1877-1878, 174:245: Flower sometimes

pink, streaked with red, sometimes light red, imbricated, incurved, rose-form. Then in his

1882-1883, 199:254 Catalogue as ‘Stella Polaire’, “from Santarelli”. Thus it seem that the

variety described in SCCS, Camellia Nomeclature is the van Houtte form. The designation

“Stella Polare” is Italian for the French “Etoile Polaire” or the English “Pole Star”.

Orthographic errors include: ‘Etoile Polaine’, ‘Etoile Palaire’. Orthographic variants: ‘Stella

Polare’, ‘La Stella Polare’.