Monday, July 14, 2008

Camellia crapnelliana

Genus Camellia L. (Theaceae)
An economically important genus providing valuable seed oil, tea and medicine. ca. 120 described species where most of them are in China (98 species including 13 spp. and 1 variety in Hong Kong).

Camellia crapnelliana was first collected from Mount Parker and described by W. J. Tutcher in 1903 (i.e. 克氏茶 in chinese). All Camellia species in Hong Kong are protected under Forestry Regulations Cap. 96A. C. crapnelliana is particularly rare which has also been listed as Vulnerable under IUCN red list and Rare and Precious Plants of Hong Kong.

The extracted seed oil is edible. It was introduced to Japan in 1968 but only a small number of plants have been cultivated because grafting on C.japonica or C.sasanqua is difficult.

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