(C.japonica), Veitch Nursery Catalogue, 1856, pl.1: Good bearing and vigour, leaves

of a good, dark green; flowers very large, petals well rounded, of a good form with ribbons

and stripes of rose. According to The Floral Magazine of 1861, “Of Italian Origin imported in

1856 by Messrs Veitch & Sons - Flowers large, quite double, distinctly and distantly flaked

with rosepink, outer petals reflexed. In young flowers the petals assume a cuplike form.” It

was also figured and described in The Florist, 1859, Verschaffelt, 1860, Iconographie, Book

I, pl.II, and van Houtte, 1861, Flore des Serres vol.14, p.167 with the plate F1861 a copy of

the one in The Florist. Verschaffelt’s description is: A gigantic Flemish pink, a rose or an

anemone (its floral form resembles all three types), a white ground, broadly banded a vivid

pink or crimson. Originated by Schmitz of Florence, Italy, according to Verschaffelt or by

Franchetti, according to Stefano Pagliai, 1867 Catalogue, p.69, and imported and named by

Veitch of England. Orthographic errors: ‘Contessa of Derby’, ‘Contess of Derby’, ‘Countesse

of Derby’. Orthographic variant: ‘Comtesse de Derby’. The ‘Countess of Derby’ illustrated

and described by Hertrich in Camellias in the Huntington Gardens, vol.III, 1959, pp.54, 55 is

a different cultivar, even though the history given is for the valid Camellia.