Camellia sinensis

My Camellia sinensis, the tea camellia, is the only camellia I have blooming now.  Camellia sinensis is used for drinking tea and is the plant that all commercial tea, except herbal tea, comes from. This year because of our strange weather it did not have as many blossoms as it has in the previous years and bloomed earlier than usual.

My plant is about 6 years old and is a slow grower. You have to look for the flowers among the leaves because the flowers are only less than one inch in diameter, but they do have an fragrance to them.  The other day I was picking off the spent blossoms and I found four seed pods on it.  Unfortunately, it looks like the frost might have gotten to them. I have decided to try and see if I can get the seed pods to grow, but from the information I found on doing this the process for germination, which involves a clear jar, sphagnum moss, and a warm dark place.  If they are going to sprout it can take up to two weeks, but because my seeds are not fresh the information says it can take longer.  There is an even longer process once they sprout before they are ready to be planted outside in the soil.  But I'll let you know if I am successful at having them sprout!

Camellia seed pods. (photos by Betty Victor)

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