Camellia

Also known as camellias

Camellia (pronounced or ) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Theaceae. They are found in tropical and subtropical areas in eastern and southern Asia, from the Himalayas east to Japan and Indonesia. There are more than 220 described species; almost all are found in southern China and Indochina. Camellias are popular ornamental, tea, and woody-oil plants cultivated worldwide for centuries. Over 26,000 cultivars, with more than 51,000 cultivar names, including synonyms, have been registered or published.

OverviewAI-generated

Camellia is a genus of plants in the family Theaceae. It belongs to the kingdom Plantae, phylum Tracheophyta, class Magnoliopsida, and order Ericales. The scientific name is Camellia L., with Camellia japonica serving as the taxonomic type. The genus is described in sources including the Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary, Gujin Tushu Jicheng, and the Encyclopædia Britannica 11th edition.

One species, Camellia sasanqua, is native to Japan and Nansei-shoto. It has been introduced to Arkansas, Assam, Korea, Laos, and Vietnam. This species is also known by the common name Christmas camellia. Records for the genus are held by institutions such as UNICACH, CAS, MEL, BRIT, and NY, with occurrences documented in Mexico, China, the Philippines, Brazil, and Australia.

Synthesized by Vinony from 42 facts across 8 sources: Wikidata, GBIF, PubMed, iNaturalist, Gbif Occ, Plants of the World, iDigBio, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

Species

Japanese camellia

Camellia

GENUS

KingdomPlantae
PhylumTracheophyta
ClassMagnoliopsida
OrderEricales
FamilyTheaceae

Native toJapan, Nansei-shoto

Observations20,059

Observations recorded56,998

General: Islands. Illustration of Camellia sasanqua (1939) by Stella Common Name: Christmas camellia

via GBIF · Kew POWO

Museum specimens

Specimen records: 921
With media: 778
Family: Theaceae
Collections: UNICACH, CAS, MEL, BRIT, NY, MU
Recorded in: Mexico, China, Philippines, Brazil, Australia

iDigBio →

Research

9,070 papers

A Review on the Biological Activity of Camellia Species.ReviewMolecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Teixeira AM, Sousa CDOI: 10.3390/molecules26082178
Camellia sinensis: historical perspectives and future prospects.ReviewJournal of agromedicine · 2005Patel SHDOI: 10.1300/J096v10n02_08
Anti-inflammatory and antioxidative effects of Camellia oleifera Abel components.ReviewFuture medicinal chemistry · 2017Xiao X, He L, Chen Y et al.DOI: 10.4155/fmc-2017-0109
Therapeutic potentialities of green tea (Camellia sinensis) in ischemic stroke: biochemical and molecular evidence.ReviewMetabolic brain disease · 2024Azami S, Forouzanfar FDOI: 10.1007/s11011-023-01294-4
Saponins from seeds of Genus Camellia: Phytochemistry and bioactivity.ReviewPhytochemistry · 2018Guo N, Tong T, Ren N et al.DOI: 10.1016/j.phytochem.2018.02.002
CamelliA-based simultaneous imaging of Ca2+ dynamics in subcellular compartments.Plant physiology · 2022Guo J, He J, Dehesh K et al.DOI: 10.1093/plphys/kiac020
How does tea (Camellia sinensis) produce specialized metabolites which determine its unique quality and function: a review.ReviewCritical reviews in food science and nutrition · 2022Liao Y, Zhou X, Zeng LDOI: 10.1080/10408398.2020.1868970
Understanding the Origin and Evolution of Tea (Camellia sinensis [L.]): Genomic Advances in Tea.ReviewJournal of molecular evolution · 2023Zhang ZB, Xiong T, Chen JH et al.DOI: 10.1007/s00239-023-10099-z

via PubMed

~23 min read

Encyclopedic overview

19 sections

Contents

Description
Vegetative characteristics
Flowers and fruit
Taxonomy
Species
Fossil record
Distribution and habitat
Ecology
Conservation
Cultivation
History and use
Garden history
Modern cultivars
AGM cultivars
Cultural significance
See also
References
Further reading
External links

The leaves of C. sinensis are processed to create tea, and so are of particular economic importance in East Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Indian subcontinent, with the processed leaves widely sold and consumed globally. The ornamental C. japonica, C. sasanqua and their hybrids are the source of hundreds of garden cultivars. C. oleifera produces tea seed oil, used in cooking and cosmetics.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Camellia” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.