A flowering shrub or small tree with beautiful, waxy, colorful flowers that bloom in winter or early spring, popular in Asian and Southern gardens.
Named after Georg Joseph Kamel, a Jesuit botanist who studied plants in the Philippines in the 1700s. The plant was called 'camellia' in his honor.
Camellias are so prized in Japan that they're woven into literature and art—but they were 'discovered' by Europeans through a Jesuit missionary, showing how global trade brought plants around the world.
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