In Europe, horticulturalists became aware of this genus in the 18th century and, by about 1830, had imported a considerable number of cultivars from China. No attempt was made to use their Chinese names and they were mostly given names in the latin form. They spread quickly to the temperate regions of Europe, the Americas, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Large numbers of seedlings were raised, particularly in Portugal and Italy, and many hundreds of new cultivars appeared, which were given names in many languages.
Then, towards the end of the 19th century, interest in the genus languished in the western world, not to be regained for 50 years. In the intervening period, names were lost or confused. Further confusion ensued in the early years of interest revival, as plants were incorrectly named by nurseries for marketing purposes and there was misidentification and erroneous reading of labels of names in other languages.
Most affected were the Southern States of America. Hundreds of old varieties had survived the period of neglect, to become large plants, and many were erroneously renamed. Nurserymen, such as McIlhenny of Jungle Gardens, imported hundreds of varieties in the 1930s from France, Japan and England. In some cases, identification was lost and they were renamed.
In most countries where Camellias were grown, concerned horticulturalists started to research the old Camellia literature in an endeavour to infuse some order into their nomenclature. In America, Dr H. Hume, Albert Fendig, R.L. Wilmot and William E. Woodroof were amongst the pioneers. In Australia, it was Professor E.G. Waterhouse, Alex Jessep and Walter Hazlewood. In the United Kingdom, Charles E. Puddle and W.E.F Hanger were in the lead; in Italy it was Dr Antonio Sevesi, while Robert Gimson and Antonio Odriozola worked on the names of the Camellias of Spain and Portugal.
Immediately following the last world war, as the revival of interest in Camellia grew, societies were formed in the main growing areas, one of their aims being the clarification of camellia nomenclature. Considerable literature developed on the subect; publications such as the American Camellia Catalogue, 1949-1953, the Vanderbilt Camellia Research lists of 1940 and 1941, the 1943 Camellia Digest and the American Camellia Society Index of 1948. In 1945, the Southern California Camellia Society produced a list of varieties under the name Camellia, which was the start of its nomenclature publications, culminating in Camellia Nomenclature; originally under the name The Camellia. Its Culture and nomenclature-. This publication, reproduced in an up-dated form every two years or so, became a major force in stabilizing Camellia nomenclature in the English speaking world.
In July 1955, at the International Horticultural Congress at Scheveningen, in the Netherlands, the question was raised as to which Camellia organisation could act as International Registration Authority for the genus. It was agreed that no single society had the records for the preparation of an international checklist of Camellia names. This lead to the request of the L.H. Bailey Hortorium of the Cornell University, for a grant from the Longwood Foundation in support of five-year project to produce a manuscript for such a checklist, suitably annotated. This grant was approved and in September 1957, Mr Ralph N. Philbrick was engaged to administer the project, under the direction of the L.H. Bailey Hortorium.
At the time it was envisaged that, at the termination of the project, the manuscript and assembled records would be presented to a Camellia society willing and able to maintain an International Registration Authority for Camellia cultivar names.
An advisory group, which included members from most Camellia growing countries, was formed to assist with advice and gathering data. In April 1962, this group became the foundation members of the newly formed International Camellia Society which was appoined International Registration Authority for the Genus Camellia some months later at the International Horticultual Congress at Brussels.
Dr Ralph Philbrick acted initially as the Society's first International Registrar but, by 1963 had been appointed Director of the Santa Barbara Botanica Gardens, California; a position that left him with little time to complete the international checklist manuscript, which remained incomplete until 1981 when, during a visit to Sydney by Professor Bates, then Director of the L.H. Bailey Hortorium, he consulted the executive officers of the International Camellia Society, and it was agreed that the data gathered by Dr Philbrick would be handed over to T.J. Savige of Wirlinga, New South Wales, Australia, who had been appointed International Registrar. This material finally arrived in Australia in March 1984. In the meantime, the Registrar has visited Dr Philbrick at Santa Barabara and completed a preliminary checklist manuscript, copies of which were sent to various authorities. Following their replies and receipt of the research material, it was decided that a full International Camellia Register should be compiled and published.
In the intervening years considerable Camellia literature, mostly incorporating many fine colour illustrations, had been produced in Japan, where considerable work by Takasa Tuyama, Takeshi Watanabe, Yoshiaki Andoh, Eikichi Satomi, Saburo#2 Yokoyama and others had brought some order into Japanese nomenclature.
In China, initially through the efforts of Professor T.T. Yü, the cultivars of Camellia reticulata were fully investigated, leading to a series of illustrated publications in Chinese, Japanese and English. A few limited publications on Camellia japonica were also produced. However this activity has been considerably intensified with the recent formation of the Camellia Society of China. Many hundreds of Camellias of Western origin have been imported to China, where they have been given synonyms in the Chinese language.
The number of the names of Camellia cultivars, including synonyms and errors, that have entered horticultural literature, originally estimated to be about 8000, reached about 16,000 from the Philbrick records of 1962, and finally attained over 32,000 by the time the International Camellia Register was ready for publication in 1991.
From this brief history it can be seen that this register is the culmination of the work of 40 years by a great number of Camellia enthusiasts. It is hoped that it will strengthen the system of validity by prior publication, prevent further duplication when selecting names for new cultivars and assist in clearing up some of the confusion that still clings to a few of the old cultivar names.
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