Notice

Colin Mills, compiler of the Hortus Camdenensis, died in late November 2012 after a short illness. As he always considered the Hortus his legacy, it is his family's intention to keep the site running in perpetuity. It will not, however, be updated in the near future.

Rhododendron ‘Victoria’

It is likely that more than one English hybrid or cultivar was called ‘Victoria’ or similar.  For example Rhododendron ‘Victoria Reginae’ was exhibited at the Massachusetts Horticultural Society on April 19th, 1889.  [Wilson & Rehder p.99].  The authors suggest that this hybrid belongs to a group of hybrids raised by William Smith of Norbiton in 1842 between a hardy Rhododendron seedling and Azalea [Rhododendron] sinensis Sweet, called at the time Rhododendron Smithii or Rhododendron x Smithii, or alternatively that the parentage is ‘a yellow form of the Chinese Azalea and Rhododendron caucasicum, the latter of which it resembles in habit.’  [Robinson, Fl. and Sylva II, 152/1904,  quoted in Wilson & Rehder loc cit].  If this association is correct then ‘Victoria Reginae’ could be synonymous with Macarthur’s ‘Victoria’.  I have found no specific description of ‘Victoria’.  Rhododendron x Smithii aureum is figured in Paxton’s Magazine of Botany [MB p.79/1842].

 

Horticultural & Botanical History

No additional data.

History at Camden Park

Desideratum to Loddiges’ nursery on 16th April 1846 [MP A2933-1, p.147].

Notes

Published Jun 19, 2009 - 05:22 PM | Last updated Sep 06, 2011 - 04:36 PM

Family Ericaceae
Category
Region of origin

Garden origin, England

Synonyms
Common Name
Name in the Camden Park Record

Rhododendron Victoria 

 

Confidence level low