A Sintra Camellia

Veronica Vleck

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The Park and Palace of Pena are the result of King Ferdinand II’s creative genius and the greatest expression of 19th-century romanticism in Portugal. The park consists of a forest and luxuriant gardens , containing over five hundred different species of trees from all over the world.

Camellias originating from France, Belgium, Italy and China were introduced into these gardens in the 1840s. A unique collection of Portuguese varieties is concentrated within four main areas of the garden i.e. the Garden of the Camellias (or Garden of the Friars), the Garden of Queen Amelia, the Garden of the Countess of Edla and the Tea Hill. The Marques Loureiro nurseries (in Porto) paid homage to both King Ferdinand II and the Portuguese Royal Family, by developing a series of camellias bearing royal titles for them: ‘Dona Maria II, Rainha de Portugal’ (1865, cherry red), ‘Dona Maria Pia, Rainha de Portugal’ (virginal white with crimson stripes), ‘Princeza Dona Amelia’ (1865, pure white), ‘Princeza Real’ (1865, cherry red speckled with white), ‘Dom Carlos Fernando (Príncipe Real)’ (1865, delicate pink), ‘Infante Dom Augusto’ (1865, pink with white stripes), ‘Dom Pedro V, Rei de Portugal’ (1872, pure white, with pink specks and stripes), ‘Dom Pedro, Imperador do Brasil’ (1865, white, with crimson stripes and specks) and ‘Condessa d’Edla’ (1872, pure white).

Sintra boats the ideal growing conditions for camellias. The garden of the Palacio da Pena has over 2250 of such trees- from four species (i.e. Camellia japonica L., Camellia reticulata Lindl, Camellia sasanqua Thunb., Camellia sinensis (L.) Kuntze). From these, 285 specimens have been classified into 204 different cultivars.

The above text is an adapated version of that found on the International Camellia Society website. https://internationalcamellia.org/parquedapena

3 years ago