Camellia

automatic taxobox |image = Camellia sasanqua1JAM343.jpg |image_caption = Camellia sasanqua is used as a garden plant, its leaves are used for tea, and its seeds for oil |taxon = Camellia |authority = L. |subdivision_ranks = Species |subdivision = About 187, see text |synonyms = Calpandria Blume (1825) Camelliastrum Nakai (1940) Dankia Gagnep. (1939) Desmitus Raf. (1838) Drupifera Raf. (1838) Piquetia Hallier f. (1921) Salceda Blanco (1845) Sasanqua Nees (1834) Stereocarpus Hallier f. (1921) Thea L. (1753) Theaphylla Raf. (1830), nom. superfl. Theopsis Nakai (1940) Tsia Adans. (1763), nom. superfl. Tsubaki Adans. (1763), nom. superfl. Yunnanea Hu (1956) | synonyms_ref= Camellia (pronounced kə'mɛliə or kə'miːliə) 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. Camellias are popular ornamental, tea and woody-oil plants that have been cultivated throughout the world for centuries. To date, over 26,000 cultivars, with more than 51,000 cultivar names including synonyms, have been registered or published. Of economic importance in East Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Indian subcontinent, leaves of C. sinensis are processed to create the popular beverage tea. 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. The genus was named by Linnaeus after the Jesuit botanist Georg Joseph Kamel, who worked in the Philippines and described one of its species (although Linnaeus did not refer to Kamel's account when discussing the genus). Camellias are evergreen shrubs or small trees up to tall. Their leaves are alternately arranged, simple, thick, serrated, and usually glossy. Their flowers are usually large and conspicuous, one to 12 cm in diameter, with five to nine petals in naturally occurring species of camellias.