Register page
The aim of this Horticultural Code is to promote uniformity, accuracy and fixity in the naming of agricultural, horticultural and silvercultural cultivars. Registration is a voluntary procedure, and does not confer any legal protection for the use of the name, or for the propagation of the plant. Such protection may be obtained through plant variety right schemes in countries where they operate. However, it is of obvious value to all interested in Camellias, that their nomenclature should be as internationally stable, and free from confusion as possible. Camellia cultivars are freely distributed and interchanged throughout the Camellia growing areas of the world, so that the Register must be maintained on a truly international basis, and it is only by the continuing co-operation of all concerned that this object may be achieved.
Registration Requirements. The requirements for registration are simple and straightforward. Firstly an 'Application for Registration' form should be obtained by applying to the General Secretary of the International Camellia Society, or, if resident of a country with an approved National Registration Authority, through the Secretary or Registrar of that Authority or its controlling body. At this date (1991), this would be the American Camellia Society, the New Zealand Camellia Society or the Australian Camellia Research Sciety.
This form should be complete in accordance with the requirements set out therein, and returned to the Authority from which it was obtained, together with any prescribed fee. The applicant will be notified of the decision of the Authority. If accepted, the name and details will be published in a following issue of the Authority's publication, as it is only by such publication that a plant name assumes validity. If rejected the applicant may be asked for an alternative name.
It is desirable that any National Registration Authority, before approving the registration of a Camellia cultivar name, should check the availability and validity of such name with the International Registrar, as it is only by adhering to this principle that the possibility of undesirable duplication, or illegality from any cause, can be reduced to a minimum.
Explanatory Notes. The appendix to the code, recommendation 2, for the guidance of registration authorities requires the Register to include:
a. The names of cultivars in cultivation giving for each name where applicable, the name and address of the originator; a full reference to date, name and place of the original publication; parentage, when known; particulars of any test for distinctiveness; any awards and a description.
b. Names of cultivars, which, although no longer cultivated, are of historical importance.
c. All known synonyms.
d. Any rejected cultivar names.
Rarely, if ever, is it possible to state categorically that a particular cultivar is extinct, and, in any case, once a name is published it is on record for all future time as a potential source of confusion if any other plant from the same group is allowed to assume the same epithet. This is particularly so with camellias which can be long lived plants with records of individual age of up to 600 years.
Therefore, in this first edition of the International Camellia Register, an endeavour has been made to include all names which have been published since Li, Shizhen's Bencao Gangmu (Materia Medica with Commentaries) of 1590, the earliest listing of Camellia cultivar names located to date.
Extinct Names. Never-the-less there are a number of names that have been given to Camellia cultivars that can be considered extinct. Some of the early listings or catalogues of plant names did not include a description. If no later description has been found, it is obviously impossible to identify them. In Japan, many of the old cultivars grown before 1900 AD have become lost, unidentified, or totally destroyed in the various wars and calamities that have befallen that country. Therefore, where it is considered that a cultivar is impossible to identify or no specimens can be located, the entry is marked: (Believed extinct).
Conventions for Uniformity. In compiling this register, certain conventions were followed for uniformity. Basically all name have been listed alphabetically, irrespective of species, rank, hybridity or particular cultivar group, or whether the names are valid, synonyms, errors or orthographic variants. Although species names are not generally included in the cultivar list, those which have assumed horticultural standing, but have no 'fancy' names, are listed (for example C. rosiflora, C. maliflora, etcetera). All names in the body of the text, as distinct from the alphabetical listing, are written with single, inverted commas, while the botanical species names and names of publications are in italics.
Listing of Names. Names which are considered to be the prior and valid names are given in boldface in the listing; the synonyms and other non-valid or erroneous names are in normal type, set back three spaces, while the text is indented a further three spaces. Non-valid names include synonyms, erroneous names, orthographic errors, abbreviated names, corrupted names, illegal names and names that are different readings of the oriental characters.
Following the date of implementation of the Horticultural Code in 1958 it is required that, to be valid, a new camellia cultivar name must be published with a description. In those cases where names were published without a description, such as the scion lists in the American Camellia Society publications, these have been included amongst the non-valid names with the note: 'No valid listing located'. This has been done due to the possibility of subsequent valid listing being located in nursery catalogues or other horticultural literature.
Latin Names. The Horticultural Code has banned the use of plant cultivar names in latin form or partly latin form for any introductions after 1 January, 1959, the date of implementation of the code. However, names in latin form given prior to this date are let stand, except that the orthography must be in accordance with correct botanical latin. Those not in accordance have been corrected in the valid listing in the Register, while the mis-spelt name is listed as an orthographic error and referred to the valid name. Names partly of latin form, such as those given to sports of old cultivar bearing names in latin form, given after 1st January, 1959 are also barred and considered illegal. In the Register they carry the notation: 'Not according to the Horticultural Code'.
Oriental Characters. In order to make the Register more acceptable to countries using oriental characters, these have been included in an appendix, where they are listed in alphabetical order of their transliterated names. Their country of origin, group or species, and status are included.
Group Designations. Immediately following the valid name, is that of the species or group to which that particular cultivar belongs. Firstly, wherever the term 'hybrid' is used, it refers only to an inter-specific hybrid. The species Camellia japonica has been divided into its sub-species and varieties. Thus C.japonica ssp. japonica, var. japonica is listed as C.japonica; C.japonica ssp. rusticana is C.rusticana; C.japonica ssp. japonica var. macrocarpa is C.macrocarpa and there are the speciallized horticultural forms 'Higo' and 'Wabisuke'. Where valid and accepted collective epithets exist, these are used to cover their hybrid group, e.g. C-.x williamsii, C.x vernalis, Borde Hill Hybrids, etcetera. In hybrid crosses, where only the seed parent is known, the group name is given by adding the word 'hybrid' to the known species, e.g. C.reticulata hybrid. Where neither parent species are known it is nominated C.hybrid. Where known, its particular formula is given in the text.
Valid Listing. Following the cultivar group name is the name of the author of the first valid listing, with the title of the publication, together with the date and page number, where this information is known. Sometimes further references are given to extend or substantiate the first. Wherever possible, references are given to published illustrations and awards.
Description. Where available, following the first valid listing is a description, or a translation into English of the original text, if in another language. Wherever possible the original description is given. Dimensions are stated in the metric system. As some first descriptions are very abbreviated, if further, more detailed descriptions are available from subsequent listing, these have been used to amplify the original description. Where no description has been located this is noted against the cultivar name.
Where known, the flowering season is included. This has been reduced to 'early', 'mid-season' and 'late', to prevent trans-equatorial confusion occuring when months are given, or misinterpretation caused by climatic differences when seasons are given.
History. A brief history, as far as is known, follows. This includes the name and address of the originator, synonyms and other non-valid names, parentage, mutations, awards, and country of origin.
Priority. It was found necessary, in some cases of establishing priority, to make arbitary decisions on some points not clear in the code. For example, there are some cases where the same cultivar name is listed in two different languages in the same year. If one of these languages is that of its country of origin, this orthography is listed as the valid name.
Duplicate Names. Although no repetition of an existing cultivar name is considered valid today, this has not been so in the past, and the Register has to take into account all multiple uses of a particular epithet. When the same name has been used for more that one cultivar, various solutions were evolved to try to fit the problem. If only two cultivars were involved, the first to bear the names retained it, unaltered, as valid; whilst with the later named cultivar, the originator's name, if known, is affixed in brackets. A common case of multiple naming, arose from using the same name for members of different species or groups. Every effort has been made to find a suitable method of differentiation, although this has not always been possible. The problem is more common with oriental cultivars names than with western, as Camellia culture has existed for over five hundred years in Japan and China, and has been interrupted by wars and rebellions, when many cultivars were destroyed or their identities lost. Because of this, many of the camellias listed in the old Japanese and Chinese scrolls are now considered extinct. In recent years many of these old names have been re-used for modern cultivars, often more than once.
Sometimes the solution adopted devolves around the peculiarities of the transliteration. For example, the Japanese language presently uses about 4850 Chinese characters known as 'kanji' characters. These characters have both an 'on', or Chinese reading, or pronunciation, and a 'kun' or Japanese reading. These can be the sourse of the different readings of a name, and sometimes it is possible to use one reading for one cultivar, and another for a second. However there remains some cases where it has not been possible to distinguish between multiple names; in which case they are listed in order of date.
Oriental Names. Article 32 of the code states: 'When a cultivar name has to be rendered into another language it is preferably left unchanged. It may, however, be transliterated or translated; in which case the transliteration or translation is regarded as the original name in a different form, and its date is that of the original.'
Unfortunately in interpreting this for names in oriental characters it becomes somewhat ambiguous, as both Japanese and Chinese have, or have had a variety of transliterating systems, and, as far as translations are concerned, there are difficulties due to the number of languages that can be used. Therefore a decision was taken, that, in the Register, transliterations only would be accepted as valid equivalent designations, while names published in the translated form be considered as synonyms. These points will be clarified in the ammended Horticultural Code now in the course of preparation.
Recommendation 32B of the code reads: 'It is desirable that Registration Authorities should use one system of transliteration only in respect to any particular language'. In Chinese the officially designated 'Pinyin' system has been accepted, and all valid names in Chinese are expressed in this form. For Japanese, it was decided to follow the accord reached by Dr Ralph Philbrick with linguists of Japan and America, and adopt the 'Hepburn' system.
These decisions have had two different results. The Chinese system is largely phonetic and the latin rendering of the name is sometimes difficult to pronounce by the average western horticulturalist. Because of this, the names used in the western world are mostly the translated names. Certain of these have been designated 'Approved western synonyms'. All valid Chinese names have been written according to The Pinyin Chinese-English Dictionary, 1979 edition; Editor-in-Chief, Professor Wu, Jingrong. While it is usual for a name in Chinese to be transliterated in one conjoined word, (in distinction to earlier systems where each character was written separately) longer names are divided into concepts for easier handling by westerners. Chinese names should be written with a capital letter for each part of the name, but no hyphens. e.g. 'Hanhong Juban'. On the other hand Japanese transliteration is largely pronounceable by Westerners, so that few translations of Japanese names are used as synonyms. The Japanese names are written according to the Hepburn system as employed by The Modern Japanese-English Character Dictionary 2nd revised edition, by Andrew Nathaniel Nelson, Ph.D., and are usually written as one unhyphenated word, with the following exceptions:
1. When names contain certain species or group designations such as 'tsubaki', 'sazanka', 'wabisuke', 'Higo' etcetera., these designations are separated by a hyphen. e.g. 'Kuro-tsubaki', 'Higo-hagoromo'. However names such as 'Fuiri-kochowabisuke', 'Kocho-shirowabisuke', 'Beni-kantsubaki', 'Kanzaki-akawabisuke' and 'Kocho-usuwabisuke' have been treated as exceptions.
2. Where names contain certain longer, frequently occuring modifiers, which designate a derivation from another cultivar, (the name of which forms the basis of the name of the cultivar under consideration) these modifiers, e.g. 'shibori', 'nishiki', 'akayae', 'akizaki' etcetera are separated by a hyphen. e.g. 'Shiratama-shibori'.
3. When adjacent vowels are pronounced in separate syllables, they are separated by a hyphen. e.g. 'Shiro-otome'.
4. When a name contains the character for 'no' with the meaning of 'to', 'in', 'of', 'for', this is separated out by hyphens. e.g. 'Saki-no-haru', 'Yama-no-yuki'.
These exceptions reduce the frequency of an excessively long cultivar name, and aid pronunciation by preserving a logical break which can be consistently applied. Japanese names, previously published in transliterated form, are retained if no ambiguity exists; otherwise they are amended to the Hepburn reading for the valid form. They should be written with the initial capital letter only, amd hyphens. e.g. 'Akayae-kingyoba-tsubaki'.
Abbreviations. In the text, abbreviations have mainly been avoided. Those that have been used are:
ACS. American Camellia Society.
ACRS. Australian Camellia Research Society.
ANZCRS. Australia and New Zealand Camellia Research Society.
JCS. Japanese Camellia Society.
NCCS. Northern California Camellia Society.
SCCS. Southern California Camellia Society.
NZCS. New Zealand Camellia Society.
ICS. International Camellia Society.
CSC. Camellia Society of China.
RHS. Royal Horticultural Society.
USA. United States of America.
UK. United Kingdom.
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General. Where the first listing of a Camellia cultivar name is supported by an illustration from a colour plate, but without description, this has been accepted as equivalent to a description, and the name listed as valid with a description taken from the illustration.
Full information on the initial valid publication of a cultivar name is included in the Register, rather than abbreviations or bibliographic references. This is to make the Register simpler and quicker to use, by making it unnecessary to keep referring to the bibliography. Regarding orthographic errors, variations, and abbreviations in the first published form, these have been corrected, where necessary, under the procedure that the first validly published name is retained, unless there is evidence of error or contravention of the Code in the original orthography, but all such errors or contraventions (including those of spelling, grammar and topography) are corrected.
Such a list as this first edition of the International Camellia Register will always be open to amendments and corrections, as error and omissions will always exist in such a comprehensive list, no matter how carefully checked, and in view of further data coming to light from previously unlocated literature and catalogues. As it is intended to publish lists of new cultivars at future regular intervals, a plea is made to the reader to notify the Registrar of any further data or information available to the reader, as well as errors in this compilation, so that this information may be included.
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