Kumagai (Chūbu)

Wada, 1941, Japanese Garden Treasures, p.29: Magifi­cent single with big, long, drooping leaves and enormous, flat, open flowers, vermilion scarlet, contrasting with golden yellow petaloid anthers in a flat circle. See colour photos: Tuyama, 1968, Camellias of Japan, pl.170, p.85; Satō, 1975, Chūbu no Tsubaki, p.112; Yokoyama & Kirino, 1989, Nihon no Chinka, p.223. Seibundō Shinkōsha, 1979, Senchinshū, p.47 as Kumagai from the Kansai district. Dark crimson (Currant red 821/3), up to 13 cm across, 5-7 petals, 150 spreading stamens with large. yellow anthers and white filaments. Leaves large, broadly elliptic to ovate-­elliptic, shortly acuminate, flat, thick texture, coarsely crenate. A very old cultivar from Kyōto, Japan. Synonym: ‘Kōmyō’. Sport: ‘Kumagai-shibori’. There are many cultivars resembling this in Kansai, Kumamoto or Chūbu in Japan. “Kumagai” is a Daimyō family surname decending from the Taira Clan of the 8th century.

誠文堂新光社.1998.《日本ツバキ.サザンカ名鑑》.ｐ.81.　日本ツバキ協会. 2010. 《最新日本ツバキ図鑑》. p.85. 愛知產. [花]濃朱紅色、一重、肉厚梅芯、椀咲き、中～大輪、3～4月。[葉]良楕円、中形、波曲。[樹]立性、強い。[来歴]1933年の「中部椿銘鑑」に記攸がある、熊谷(関西)に類似の品種。写/佐藤、文/太伴