Leaves:
- alternate
- simple
- usually serrate
- leathery
- no stipules
Flowers:
- solitary or few clustered in leaf axils
- usually sessile (no pedicel)
- perfect
- radial
- large and showy
- white, pink, or red
- bracts and sepals fall away as flowers open
- 5 sepals
- 5-merous petals (or multiples)
- many stamens, fused at base and to petals
Fruit:
- capsule
Other notes:
- trees to 45 feet or shrubs
- evergreen
- over 2,000 cultivars (Dirr [1998] states that the situation is confused “to the point of hopelessness”)
- C. sinensis is the source of tea
- C. sasanqua is an early bloomer
- C. japonica has blossom rot in PNW climate
- C. Xwilliamsii is better suited (cross of C. saluenensis x C. japonica produced by JC Williams in the early 1930s)
- Camellia refers to Georg Joseph Camel (1661-1706), a German Jesuit missionary to the Philippines who was noted for his work on plants in the Eastern hemisphere
- Alabama’s state flower
Ecology & Adaptations:
- example in the WA Arboretum: Camellia sasanqua
- native to Japan where it is found in forest clearings and on grassy slopes on mountainsides
- drought tolerant:
- leathery leaves retain water
- thick canopy of leaves shades and cools roots
- shade tolerant:
- in shady conditions, leaves are thinner, which provides light capturing surface area but limits the total investment in photosynthesizing structures
- stomata are not as dense as is found on leaves in full sun, since water regulation is not as important
- pollination by birds and bees
- herbivory defense – leathery leaves protect against insect herbivory
- microbial infection defense – protected by numerous compounds, including flavonoids