Camellia

Camellia is a type of flowering plants in the family Theaceae, subject to eastern and southern Asia from the Himalaya east to Japan and Indonesia. There are 100–250 extant species, with some storm over the exact number. The kind was named by Linnaeus after Jesuit botanist Georg Joseph Kamel.

They are evergreen shrubs and small trees 2–20 m tall. The leaves are alternately arranged, simple, thick, serrated, typically silky, and 3–17 cm long. The flowers are large and obvious, 1–12 cm diameter, with (in natural conditions) 5–9 petals; colour varies from white to pink and red, and yellow in a few kinds. The fruit is a dry pill, sometimes subdivided into up to 5 compartments, each compartment containing up to 8 seeds.

The genus is normally adapted to acidic soils, and does not grow well on chalk or other calcium-rich soils. Most species also have a high rainfall prerequisite and will not endure drought. Some Camellias have been known to grow without much rainfall.