Billie Roundtree
An 1840 Italian formal double described by van der Geert as 'very beautiful' — surviving nearly two centuries under a dozen different names.
First listed in the Cachet Catalogue of 1840–1841 simply as 'red,' this Italian-originated cultivar was more fully described by Charles van der Geert in 1846 as 'imbricated, dark red, very beautiful.' The confusion of names across nineteenth-century European catalogues — 'Bella Rosette,' 'Belle Rosette,' and the orthographic variant 'Bella Rosette' — reflects the typical nomenclatural tangles of the pre-registration era. Nearly two centuries later, the cultivar persists in collections under various designations. Listed locally as 'Billie Roundtree' and registered as 'Belle Rosette.' Source: International Camellia Register.