Akashigata
011 Akashigata
(Akashi Bay), (C.japonica), Kasuya, Kamegorô, 1859, Tsubaki Irohanayose Irotsuki; Itô, Ko’emon, 1879, Chinka Shû: Deep pink, large semi-double, 12-14 cm across, with 13 wide petals. Stamens small cylindrical cluster, filaments yellow, reddish at root. Leaves, large, elliptical; apex, caudate; base, obtuse,; surface smooth, reflexed and slightly keeled. Vigorous, bushy growth. Early to mid-season blooming. Synonyms: ‘Lady Clare’, ‘Pink Czar’, ‘Empress’, ‘Nellie Bly’, and erroneously, ‘Akasi-gata’. Pseudonym:- ‘Grandiflora Rosea’. For other forms of this cultivar see Ôniji, Destiny, Linda Laughlin, and Mrs Leroy Epps. It was imported into Europe by van Houtte who sold it to the Caledonia Nursery where it was named ‘Lady Clare’. It received the National Hall of Fame Award, 1978 as ‘Lady Clare’. The RHS Award of Merit in 1927. For colour photos and descriptions see: Camellias - A Wisley Handbook, 1985, plates p.53, 57. Fairweather, 1979, Rhododendrons and Azaleas in your 34
Garden, p.120. Hume, 1946, Camellias in America, p.177. Tuyama, 1966 Camellia Cultivars of Japan, pl.4, p.12; Encyclopedia of Camellias in Colour, vol.I, 1972, pl.173, p.316. Seibundô Shinkôsha, 1979, Senchinshû, p.5 & 196. Originated in Kanto District, Japan.