In message , Steve
Wolstenholme writes
On Sun, 29 Apr 2007 18:37:40 +0100, Sacha
wrote:

On 29/4/07 16:30, in article ,
"Steve Wolstenholme" wrote:

There is one in my garden that has just finished flowering. I have
always thought it to be a variety of Camellia.

Steve

If it IS Leptospermum, Steve, the flowers are a lot smaller than a
Camellia.
Here's a link to a pic of another but different one:
http://tinyurl.com/ywgp2x

I was comparing the flower size with the leaf size. The leaves on mine
are about an inch long, the flowers are about 2.5 inches across.

Which plant is it?

Steve

It looks to me and others like Leptospermum scoparium 'Burgundy Queen'. If
you do a Google image search on that, you'll get some idea of what that
looks like.

Yes, you're right, it looks like my plant is a Leptospermum scoparium.
I bought it as a red Camellia for my wife about ten years ago because
she always wanted something to brighten up the garden early.

How will I break the news?

Steve

I've checked my files and within the limits of the photograph I'd agree
with the identification as Leptospermum. In particular the flower looks
like one I have photographed as L. scoparium 'Ron Glory' (perhaps an
error for 'Crimson Glory').

However if your flowers are about 2.5 inches across it's not any
Leptospermum I've ever seen. (Leptospermum flowers are about 1.5-2 cm
acrooss. 2.5 inches would fit a Camellia.)

Leptospermum and Camellia don't look alike, but I'm struggling for a
form of words for an easy single character distinction. Single Camellia
have a cylindrical ring of stamens, often fused at the base. (18th
century botanists tended to lump them, and more so some of their
relatives like Stewartia, Gordonia and Malachodendron, with mallows
because of this character.) But single Leptospermums have a similar
feature (but with fewer stamens).

Camellias have large glossy leaves, comparable in size with the flowers.
Leptospermums have small leaves, even smaller than the relatively small
flowers. If your plant has 2.5 inch flowers and 1 inch leaves it may be
neither a Camellia nor a Leptospermum. It may be premature to break the
news (but if it does the desired job does its identity matter).

When does your plant flower? Nothing with red flowers that flowers early
other than Camellia and Rhododendron comes to mind (unless you could
Hamamelis).
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley