Yunnan Camellia

Yunnan camellia is very famous, even in the whole country. Many tourists must take some tea with them when they arrive in Yunnan. Many places in Yunnan grow their own tea, so every time it is time to pick the tea, the whole mountain is cool and refreshing. The camellia in Yunnan is even more famous. Yunnan tea can be found in every region, so some people compare the camellia in Yunnan to people, representing their coolness and uprightness.

1. Camellia reticulata Lindl.: shrub to small tree, sometimes up to 15 meters high, with hairless young branches. The leaves are broadly elliptical, dark green and shiny above when dry, dark brown and glabrous below, with 6-7 pairs of lateral veins and finely serrated edges. The flowers are terminal, red, 10 cm in diameter, and sessile; there are 10-11 bracts and sepals, 6-7 red petals, the outermost one is similar to a sepal, obovate, 2.5 cm long, with yellow silky hairs on the back, and the rest are obovate. The capsule is oblate, 4.5 cm high, 5.5 cm wide, split into 3 valves, each valve is 7 mm thick, and the seeds are ovoid, about 1.5 cm long. It is produced in Yunnan, China, and is widely cultivated in many varieties. Among the various red-flowered camellias produced in Yunnan, this species has the largest leaves and flowers, and the stamens are hairless.

2. Camellia yunnanensis is a shrub to a small tree, sometimes up to 15 meters high, with hairless young branches. The leaves are broadly elliptic, 8-11 cm long and 4-5.5 cm wide, with sharp or acute apex, cuneate or rounded base, dark green and shiny above when dry, dark brown below, glabrous, with 6-7 pairs of lateral veins visible above and raised below, with fine serrations on the margin, and petiole 8-13 mm long and glabrous.

3. The flowers are terminal, red, 10 cm in diameter, and sessile; there are 10-11 bracts and sepals, forming a cup-shaped bract 2.5 cm long, the lowest 1-2 are semicircular and short, the rest are round, 1.5-2 cm long, and have many yellow-white silky hairs on the back; the petals are red, 6-7 pieces, the outermost one is similar to the sepal, obovate, 2.5 cm long, with yellow silky hairs on the back, and the rest are obovate, 5-5.5 cm long, 3-4 cm wide, rounded or slightly concave at the tip, connected at the base for about 1.5 cm, and glabrous; the stamens are about 3.5 cm long, the base of the outer filaments is 1.5-2 cm connected to form a filament tube, and the free filaments are glabrous; the ovary has long yellow-white hairs, and the style is 3-3.5 cm long, glabrous or with white at the base.