The History of Camellia

China is home of Camellia, from china to the east, west and south including India, Burma, Korea and Japan. To the ancient Chinese, Camellias produced the ideal blossom. According to legend, the second Chinese Emperor Shen Nung discovered tea by accident when the leaves from an over-story plant fell into a pot of boiling water. The result, the aroma and flavor of the leaves became a new beverage called tea. The first interest in Camellias as a source of tea was in China. The history then became a popular beverage in Korea and Japan and spread to South Asia and Middle East.
In China, they made of oil for cooking and hair oil from the extract seed of tea. Temple priest in China was the first to appreciate the beauty of camellia . They loved the natural and beauty of Camellia. They did propagation of superior ornamental plants.

Japan has two ornament called Camellia Japonica and Camellia Sasanqua. The genus of the Camellia japonica was named after a Jesuit priest and botanist named George Kamel. Carl Linnaeus gave Camellia japonica the specific epithet japonica because Engelbert Kaempfer was the first to give a description of the plant while in Japan.

The first ornament Camellia arrived in 1798 in the USA, but no interest in this plants until 1940s. In the 19th centuries, the plant explorers brought Camellia to West Coast and Deep South, this era began the interest of Camellia until present.