Camellia Forest Nursery is a nursery in North Carolina managed by Kai Mei and David Parks. Kai Mei is a wife of Dr. Clifford Parks (one of the authors of “Collected Species of the Genus Camellia”, 2005) and David Parks is their son.

Mieko Tanaka

The most interesting sasanqua hybrid offered this year is a true red ‘Mieko Tanaka’. Almost all previous “red” sasanquas were actually dark pinks (for example ‘Bonanza’ and ‘Reverend Ida’). The only previous true red was ‘Yuletide’, a chance seedling of Hiryu, originated in Nuccio’s Nurseries back in 1963.

The basic problem with red color is that wild C. sasanqua has no red (or pink) pigment – anthocyanin.

According to Dr. Takayuki Tanaka and other researchers, all pink sasanqua cultivars probably originated from an ancient C. japonica x sasanqua hybrid approximately 400 years ago almost definitely in Japan. The estimation 400 years comes from chloroplast genome DNA (cpDNA) analysis. Additionally, athocyanin chromatography demonstrates that all pink sasanquas (together with x hiemalis and x vernalis hybrids) share the form of anthocyanin with C. japonica and does not have pigments specific for C. reticulata and C. saluensis.

Based on this information, Dr. Tanaka was working on sasanqua-japonica hybridization and finally he developed a cultivar ‘Mieko Tanaka’ (C. x vernalis ‘Gaisen’ x C. japonica).

Plain Jane, O’Nishiki, Winter’s Rose and Winter’s Red Rider

Another important cultivar now available for sale in Camellia Forest Nursery is C. oleifera ‘Plain Jane’. This plain white flower has two distinctive quantities.

First of all, it is one of the most cold-hardy camellias, used by Dr. William Ackerman for his cold-hardiness hybridization program. For example, Dr. Ackerman claims that his cultivar ‘Winter’s Rose’ (C. oleifera ‘Plain Jane’ x C. x hiemalis ‘Otome’) can survive winter temperatures down to -15 F / -26 C.

Second, according to Dr. Ackerman, ‘Plain Jane’ may be used to create dwarf cultivars that are useful as patio and bonsai plants. Particularly, ‘Winter’s Rose’ is also a dwarf camellia. When Dr. Ackerman crossed ‘Plain Jane’ with C. sasanqua ‘O’Nishiki’, he got 3:1 mendelian ratio between normal and dwarf seedlings. This suggested that both ‘Plain Jane’ and ‘O’Nishiki’ carry heterozygous alleles of a dwarfiness gene. (Yes, I know that both plants are hexaploids – so an additional explanation from Dr. Ackerman is needed).

Luckily I got cuttings of ‘O’Nishiki’ last Summer from Mr. Garet Uemura who lives in Hawaii. Thank you, Mr. Uemura!

This year I also bought two more plants of another semi-dwarf Ackerman hybrid – ‘Winter’s Red Rider’ (C. ‘Shishigashira’ × C. oleifera ‘Lu Shan Snow’).

Here is a picture of ‘Winter’s Rose’ (C. oleifera ‘Plain Jane’ x C. x hiemalis ‘Otome’). William Ackerman claims that it survives very low winter temperatures – down to -15 F / -26 C:

Further reading:

1. Parks, C R, Griffiths, A, and Montgomery, K R. 1968. A possible origin of anthocyanin (red) pigmentation in the flowers of Camellia sasanqua. American Camellia Yearbook, 229–242.

2. Parks, C R, Kondo, K, and Swain, P. 1981. Phytochemical evidence for the genetic contamination of Camellia sasanqua. Thunberg Jap J Breed, 31, 168–182.

3. Jian-Bin LI, Fumio HASHIMOTO, Keiichi SHIMIZU and Yusuke SAKATA, “Anthocyanins from Red Flowers of Camellia reticulata LINDL.”, Biosci. Biotechnol. Biochem., Vol. 71, 2833-2836 (2007) .
http://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/bbb/71/11/71_2833/_article

4. Takayuki Tanaka, Takayuki Mizutani, Michio Shibata, Natsu Tanikawa and Clifford R. Parks. 2005. Cytogenetic Studies on the Origin of Camellia × vernalis. V. Estimation of the Seed Parent of C. × vernalis that Evolved about 400 Years Ago by cpDNA Analysis. J. Japan. Soc. Hort. Sci. 74: 464-468
http://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jjshs/74/6/74_464/_article

5. Nobumine Tateishi, Yukio Ozaki and Hiroshi Okubo. Occurrence of Ploidy Variation in Camellia ×vernalis. Laboratory of Horticultural Science, Division of Agricultural Botany,Department of Plant Resources, Faculty of Agriculture,Kyushu University, Fukuoka 812–8581, Japan (Received November 2, 2006 and accepted December 1, 2006).
https://qir.kyushu-u.ac.jp/dspace/bitstream/2324/9273/1/p011.pdf

6. Murakami Yukie, Tanaka Jun’ichi, Yamaguchi Satoshi. Hybridity detection of cultivars of Camellia vernalis by RAPD markers. Breeding Research, vol. 1, page 169 (1999). In Japanese.

7. William L. Ackerman. Beyond the Camellia Belt: Breeding, Propagating, and Growing Cold-Hardy Camellias. Ball Publishing, 2007.

This month The International Camellia Society put two of my camellia photo pictures to the front page of their website. One is a picture of Camellia japonica ‘Kamo Honnami’ (see their website), and another is a picture of Camellia grijsii, a species related to C. sasanqua:

C. grijsii

Camellia grijsii (长瓣短柱茶 in Chinese) Hance (1879) is a wild species of section Paracamellia. It is related to C. sasanqua, C. oleifera and C. kissii. It was collected in 1861 in Fujian by C.F.M. de Grijs. It is distributed in China (Fujian, Hubei, Sichuan, Guangxi) and used for a high-quality oil production. C. grijsii is closely related to another species – C. yuhsienensis, that is a parent of a popular cultivar ‘Yume’.

I got my two plants of C. grijsii from Nuccio’s Nurseries. The first one (shown above) has single white flowers and the second one is a double-flowered Chinese cultivar called ‘Zhenzhucha’:

Camellia grijsii ‘Zhenzhucha’

Camellia grijsii has great hybridizing potential. Two plants in my garden have small leaves with impressed veins and very columnar shape. I believe there are also varieties with larger leaves, but I am specifically interested in small-leaved cultivars.

Another great feature of C. grijsii is its cluster-flowering habit. However in my garden C. grijsii flowers from January to March, so it will be a challenge to cross it with Fall-flowering sasanquas. Probably I will have to store some pollen from sasanquas in refrigerator for a couple of months.

Another problem is chromosome number. According to Kondo and his associates it has a variety of chromosome numbers 2n = 30, 60, 75 and 90 (see the reference in Collected Species of the Genus Camellia, an Illustrated Outline by Gao Jiyin, Clifford R. Parks and Du Yuequiang).


C. grijsii

Camellia grijsii ‘Zhenzhucha’

Camellia grijsii ‘Zhenzhucha’

Well-known sasanqua breeders include:

1. Nuccio’s Nurseries’s founders Joseph and Julius Nuccio, and their children Tom, Jim, and Julius, all living in Southern California. The best-known Nuccio’s sasanqua cultivar is Yuletide – the only really red sasanqua. We wrote an article about their operation and maintain a list of sasanqua cultivars and Camellia species available from Nuccio’s.

2. Dr. William L. Ackerman studied genetics of camellias since 1960s and created cold-tolerant cultivars using Camellia oleifera as a parent. Our favorite Ackerman’s hybrid is ‘Winter’s Rose’ – a beautiful formal pink miniature sasanqua. Dr. Ackerman lives in Maryland, pictures of some of his cultivars are available on the website of a local Camellia Society of the Potomac Valley and on the website of the National Arboretum. We also prepared a photo album of some of his cultivars based on pictures Dr.Ackerman donated to us for publication.

3. Camellia Forest Nursery, Clifford Parks, David Parks and Kai Mei created sasanqua-reticulata hybrids, including ‘Kai Mei’s Choice’. Clifford Parks wrote many articles about Camellia genetics. They are located in North Carolina.

4. Paradise Plants, John Robb created beautiful sasanqua cultivars in Australia, including Paradise Sayaka
and dwarf Paradise Baby Jane. Unfortunately Paradise Camellias are not available in the United States at this moment, but will be available soon via Ball Seed Company, the contact name is Peter Kruger.

5. Tom Dodd Nurseries, Inc was started in 1920 with 40 acres of land by Tom Dodd, Sr. The nursery remained owned by the Dodd family until August of 2004 when it was purchased by Jack Williams and John Williams, owners of Twin Oaks Nursery in Wilmer, AL. Tom Dodd Nurseries introduced a dozen of new sasanqua cultivars.

Camellia sasanqua botany (with pictures)

Yuri Panchul, June 2003

Camellia sasanqua ‘Shikoku Stars’. A wild variety.

Camellia miyagii

Contents

• Taxonomy
• Species
• Compatibility
• Chromosomes
• Books
• Articles

Camellia puniceiflora

Camellia brevistyla var. rubida

Taxonomy

There are three most recent classification systems of the genus Camellia frequently referred in Camellia literature: Sealy 1958 [4], Chang 1981 [1] and Ming 2000 [3].

Taxonomy – Sealy

J. Robert Sealy divided genus Camellia into 12 species group (sections). He put C. sasanqua, C. oleifera and C. kissi into section Paracamellia, C. hiemalis and C. miyagii into unplaced (artificial) section Dubiae.

Sealy’s Paracamellia consisted of ten species. Their main feature was short styles and minimal fusion of floral parts.

In 1971 Dr. William L. Ackerman shown in his article [5] that C. hiemalis and C. miyagii freely hybridize with species of section Paracamellia and suggested they should be in one section.

Taxonomy – Chang

Chang Hung Ta (1981, [1]) divided genus Camellia into four subgenera and 20 sections. He put C. sasanqua and C. oleifera into section Oleifera of Camellia subgenus. Then he put C. kissi and C. miyagii into section Paracamellia of the same subgenus and C. hiemalis into section Camellia subsection Reticulata of the same genus.

We believe later Chang Hung Ta corrected C. hiemalis classification and put it back into section Paracamellia.

Chang stated that the reason five species should be put into a separate Oleifera section is because they have more stamen series and relatively longer styles. Xiao Tiaojiang and Clifford Parks (2002, [10]) doubted Chang’s reasons for dividing Paracamellia into two sections (Paracamellia and Oleifera). They noticed that wild forms of C. sasanqua (Changs’s section Oleifera) and C. miyagii (Chang’s section Paracamellia) are virtually identical and can be considered a one species. They also did DNA sequence analysis and found all species of Changs’s Oleifera section to be clustered with a group of species in Paracamellia section.

Xiao Tiaojiang and Clifford Parks also shown by DNA analysis that some of Chang’s Paracamellia species may be in fact not belonging to Paracamellia section, for example C. grijsii, C. odorata and C. yusienensis. They fall into the clade of section Camellia species from Western China.

Taxonomy – Ming

Ming Tianlu (2000, [3]) divided genus Camellia into two subgenera and 14 sections. We do not have his book so we cannot describe his treatment of Paracamellia species. Neither Sealy nor Chang recognized C. vernalis to be a separate species. In fact, many researchers consider C. vernalis to be a complicated sasanqua-japonica hybrid (see the details below). Some researches also consider C. hiemalis a sasanqua-japonica hybrid.

According to William Ackerman, when he traveled in 1980 on a plant exploration trip to western Japan, he saw wild populations of both C. sasanqua and C. japonica growing adjacent to each other, and intermingled. There were also obvious hybrids showing intermediate phenotypic characteristics. Ackerman’s cytological analysis of a series of C. vernalis cultivars showed chromosomal evidence of both 1st and 2nd generation hybridization.

On the other hand, Ackerman strongly disagree with those who consider C. hiemalis a hybrid with C. japonica parentage. He does not see neither cytological nor phenotypical evidence to support this.

Camellia x vernalis ‘Hiryu’. A parent of ‘Yuletide’.

Camellia x vernalis ‘Yuletide’. A seedling of ‘Hiryu’.

Species

Species by Chang Hung Ta classification

Section Oleifera Chang

C. gauchowensis Chang (1961)
C. lanceoleosa
C. oleifera Abel (1818)
C. sasanqua Thunb. (1784)
C. vietnamensis Hung ex Hu (1965)

Section Paracamellia Sealy

C. brevistyla (Hay.) Cohen-Stuart (1908)
C. confusa (Craib) Cohen-Stuart (1916)
C. fluviatilis Hand.-Mazz. (1922). (Synonim C. kissi)
C. grijsii Hance (1879)
C. hiemalis Nakai (1940)
C. maliflolia Lindl. (1827)
C. microphylla (Merr.) Chien (1937)
C. miyagii (Koidz.) Mak. & Nem. (1931)
C. obtusifolia Chang (1981)
C. odorata
C. phaeoclada Chang (1981)
C. puniceiflora Chang (1981)
C. shensiensis Chang ex Chang (1981)
C. tenii Sealy (1949)
C. weiningensis Y.K. Li ex Chang (1981)
C. yuhsienensis Hu (1965)

Section Paracamellia Sealy – not in Chang’s list, but from the International Camellia Society website:

C. brevissima Chang & Liang (1982)
C. lutescens Dyer in Hook. (1874)
C. octopetala Hu in Acta Phytotax. Sin. vol.X, No.2, 1965
C. paucipetala Chang, (1984).

Camellia oleifera

Camellia hybrid ‘Winter’s Rose’. C. oleifera ‘Plain Jane’ x C. x hiemalis ‘Otome’. An Ackerman hybrid.

Compatibility

According to William L. Ackerman (1971, [5]), C. sasanqua, C. oleifera and C. kissi of Sealy’s section Paracamellia hybridize with each other very readily. In Ackerman’s research the compatibility ratio of hybrids in relation to total cross-polunations was 29 percent, the highest withing any of the section he experimented.

Ackerman also hybridized hiemalis and C. miyagii of Sealy’s section Dubiae (Chang’s section Paracamellia). The compatibility ratio was 19 percent.

Ackerman also found that C. hiemalis and C. miyagii of Sealy’s section Dubiae hybridized as easily as when intrasectional crosses were made within Sealy’s section Paracamellia (C. sasanqua, C. oleifera and C. kissi). The compatibility ratio was 18 percent for C. miyagii and 13 percent for C. hiemalis.

All these percentage numbers compare with just 9 percent for intrasectional crosses within section Camellia.

Ackerman indicated that C. sasanqua, C. oleifera and C. kissi are ecospecies. He also suggested C. hiemalis and C. miyagii are ecospecies as well and should be put into Sealy’s section Paracamellia.

In Ackerman’s experiments section Thea appeared to be more closely related to section Paracamellia and to C. hiemalis and C. miyagii of Dubiae than to species of other sections.

Camellia kissii. A parent of ‘Buttermint’.

Camellia hybrid ‘Buttermint’. A seedling of C. kissii. Nuccio’s Nurseries, California, 1997.

Chromosomes

The basic chromosome number in the genus Camellia is 15. Different species have chromosome numbers of 30, 45, 60, 75 and 90. According to Ackerman [5] C. sasanqua, C. hiemalis, C. oleifera and C. miyagii are generally hexaploids (chromosome number 6X=90).

C. kissi is a diploid (2X=30).

C. sasanqua ‘Narumigata’ is a pentaploid (5X=75)

C. vernalis ‘Hirya’ was reported to be a triploid (3X=45) by Longley and Tourje (1959 [6], 1960 [7]).

Most C. japonica and C. sinensis are diploid (2X=30).

There are rare cases of triploid C. sinensis (3X=45).

The following numbers of chromosomes were reported by Ackerman [5] for crosses:

According to Ackerman [5] “‘Narumigata’, a pentaploid variety of C. sasanqua, produced hybrids when used as the female parent. However, the chromosome number of its hybrids seem unpredictable. A hybrid, A-24, resulting from C. sasanqua ‘Narumigata’ (5X=75) x C. granthamiana (4X=60) was tetraploid (4X=60). The morphological characters of this hybrid were intermediate. It is generally difficult to assess accurately the contribution of each parent to the hybrid in crosses involving polyploid species without the aid of genetical or cytological markers. However, ‘Narumigata’ may have produced an egg with 30 chromosomes, which united with a sperm carrying 30 chromosomes from C. granthamiana. A hybrid of C. sasanqua ‘Narumigata’ x C. reticulata (6X=90) was hexaploid. In this case, ‘Narumigata’ may have produced an egg cell with 45 chromosomes.”

William Ackerman also reports in his recent correspondence C. vernalis tetraploid (4X=60) and pentaploid (5X=75). This is what one would expect along the following lines, which substantiates the hybrid nature of C. vernalis:

• 1st Generation (F1) hybrid between C. sasanqua 6X=90 x C. japonica 2X=30 with result in gametes 45 + 15 = 60 chromosomes (4X,tetraploid).
• Backcross of resulting F1 hybrid to C. sasanqua: F1 hybrid 4X=60 x C. sasanqua 6X=90 will result in gametes 30 + 45 = 75chromosomes (5X, pentaploid).
• Backcross of resulting F1 hybrid to C. japonica: F1 hybrid 4X=60 x C. japonica 2X=30 will result in gametes 30 + 15 = 45chromosomes (3X, triploid). This triploid will normally be sterile.

Camellia sasanqua ‘Narimugata’. Pentaploid.

Camellia x reticulata hybrid ‘Kai Mei’s Choice’. C. sasanqua x (C. sasanqua x C. reticulata), Camellia Forest Nursery.

Books

[1] Chang Hung Ta. 1981. A taxonomy of the genus Camellia. In Chinese. Acta Scientarum Naturalium Universitatis, Sunyatseni

Chang’s book was revised in 1998 (also in Chinese). English translation of 1981 Chang’s book is available on amazon.com:

[2] Chang Hung Ta, Bruce Bartholomew. 1984. Camellias. Timber Press, Portland, Oregon.

[3] Ming Tianlu. 2000. Monograph of the genus Camellia. Yunnan Science and Technology Press, Kunming, P.R. China

[4] J. Robert Sealy. 1958. A Revision of the Genus Camellia. The Royal Horticultural Society, London

It is possible to buy Sealy’s book on the Internet

Camellia x vernalis ‘Egao’. Means “smiling face” in Japanese.

Articles

[5] William L. Ackerman. 1971. Genetic and cytological studies with Camellia and related genera. Washington, D. C.

[6] Longley, A. E., and Tourje, E. C. Chromosome numbers of certain camellia species and allied genera. American Camellia Yearbook. 1959: 33-39.

[7] Longley, A. E., and Tourje, E. C. Chromosome numbers of certain camellia species and allied genera. American Camellia Yearbook. 1960: 70-72.

[8] Clifford Parks, K. Kondo and T.Swain. Phytochemical evidence for the genetic contamination of Camellia sasanqua Thunberg. Japanese Journal of Breeding 31(2):168

[9] John M. Ruter. Nursery production of Tea Oil Camellia under different light levels. Trends in new crops and new uses. 2002. J. Janick and A. Whipkey (eds.). ASHS Press, Alexandria, VA.

[10] Xiao Tiaojiang, Clifford Parks. 2002. Molecular analysis of the genus Camellia. University of North Carolina, USA.

Camellia grijsii

Camellia x yuhsienensis hybrid ‘Yume’. C. x hiemalis ‘Shishi Gashira’ x C. yuhsienensis, Dr. Kaoru Hagiya.

Yuri Panchul, June 2003

Contents

• Taxonomy
• Species
• Compatibility
• Chromosomes
• Books
• Articles

Taxonomy

There are three most recent classification systems of the genus Camellia frequently referred in Camellia literature: Sealy 1958 [4], Chang 1981 [1] and Ming 2000 [3].

Taxonomy – Sealy

J. Robert Sealy divided genus Camellia into 12 species group (sections). He put C. sasanqua, C. oleifera and C. kissi into section Paracamellia, C. hiemalis and C. miyagii into unplaced (artificial) section Dubiae.

Sealy’s Paracamellia consisted of ten species. Their main feature was short styles and minimal fusion of floral parts.

In 1971 Dr. William L. Ackerman shown in his article [5] that C. hiemalis and C. miyagii freely hybridize with species of section Paracamellia and suggested they should be in one section.

Taxonomy – Chang

Chang Hung Ta (1981, [1]) divided genus Camellia into four subgenera and 20 sections. He put C. sasanqua and C. oleifera into section Oleifera of Camellia subgenus. Then he put C. kissi and C. miyagii into section Paracamellia of the same subgenus and C. hiemalis into section Camellia subsection Reticulata of the same genus.

We believe later Chang Hung Ta corrected C. hiemalis classification and put it back into section Paracamellia.

Chang stated that the reason five species should be put into a separate Oleifera section is because they have more stamen series and relatively longer styles. Xiao Tiaojiang and Clifford Parks (2002, [10]) doubted Chang’s reasons for dividing Paracamellia into two sections (Paracamellia and Oleifera). They noticed that wild forms of C. sasanqua (Changs’s section Oleifera) and C. miyagii (Chang’s section Paracamellia) are virtually identical and can be considered a one species. They also did DNA sequence analysis and found all species of Changs’s Oleifera section to be clustered with a group of species in Paracamellia section.

Xiao Tiaojiang and Clifford Parks also shown by DNA analysis that some of Chang’s Paracamellia species may be in fact not belonging to Paracamellia section, for example C. grijsii, C. odorata and C. yusienensis. They fall into the clade of section Camellia species from Western China.

Taxonomy – Ming

Ming Tianlu (2000, [3]) divided genus Camellia into two subgenera and 14 sections. We do not have his book so we cannot describe his treatment of Paracamellia species. Neither Sealy nor Chang recognized C. vernalis to be a separate species. In fact, many researchers consider C. vernalis to be a complicated sasanqua-japonica hybrid (see the details below). Some researches also consider C. hiemalis a sasanqua-japonica hybrid.

According to William Ackerman, when he traveled in 1980 on a plant exploration trip to western Japan, he saw wild populations of both C. sasanqua and C. japonica growing adjacent to each other, and intermingled. There were also obvious hybrids showing intermediate phenotypic characteristics. Ackerman’s cytological analysis of a series of C. vernalis cultivars showed chromosomal evidence of both 1st and 2nd generation hybridization.

On the other hand, Ackerman strongly disagree with those who consider C. hiemalis a hybrid with C. japonica parentage. He does not see neither cytological nor phenotypical evidence to support this.

Species

Species by Chang Hung Ta classification

Section Oleifera Chang

C. gauchowensis Chang (1961)
C. lanceoleosa
C. oleifera Abel (1818)
C. sasanqua Thunb. (1784)
C. vietnamensis Hung ex Hu (1965)

Section Paracamellia Sealy

C. brevistyla (Hay.) Cohen-Stuart (1908)
C. confusa (Craib) Cohen-Stuart (1916)
C. fluviatilis Hand.-Mazz. (1922). (Synonim C. kissi)
C. grijsii Hance (1879)
C. hiemalis Nakai (1940)
C. maliflolia Lindl. (1827)
C. microphylla (Merr.) Chien (1937)
C. miyagii (Koidz.) Mak. & Nem. (1931)
C. obtusifolia Chang (1981)
C. odorata
C. phaeoclada Chang (1981)
C. puniceiflora Chang (1981)
C. shensiensis Chang ex Chang (1981)
C. tenii Sealy (1949)
C. weiningensis Y.K. Li ex Chang (1981)
C. yuhsienensis Hu (1965)

Section Paracamellia Sealy – not in Chang’s list, but from the International Camellia Society website:

C. brevissima Chang & Liang (1982)
C. lutescens Dyer in Hook. (1874)
C. octopetala Hu in Acta Phytotax. Sin. vol.X, No.2, 1965
C. paucipetala Chang, (1984).

Compatibility

According to William L. Ackerman (1971, [5]), C. sasanqua, C. oleifera and C. kissi of Sealy’s section Paracamellia hybridize with each other very readily. In Ackerman’s research the compatibility ratio of hybrids in relation to total cross-polunations was 29 percent, the highest withing any of the section he experimented.

Ackerman also hybridized hiemalis and C. miyagii of Sealy’s section Dubiae (Chang’s section Paracamellia). The compatibility ratio was 19 percent.

Ackerman also found that C. hiemalis and C. miyagii of Sealy’s section Dubiae hybridized as easily as when intrasectional crosses were made within Sealy’s section Paracamellia (C. sasanqua, C. oleifera and C. kissi). The compatibility ratio was 18 percent for C. miyagii and 13 percent for C. hiemalis.

All these percentage numbers compare with just 9 percent for intrasectional crosses within section Camellia.

Ackerman indicated that C. sasanqua, C. oleifera and C. kissi are ecospecies. He also suggested C. hiemalis and C. miyagii are ecospecies as well and should be put into Sealy’s section Paracamellia.

In Ackerman’s experiments section Thea appeared to be more closely related to section Paracamellia and to C. hiemalis and C. miyagii of Dubiae than to species of other sections.

Chromosomes

The basic chromosome number in the genus Camellia is 15. Different species have chromosome numbers of 30, 45, 60, 75 and 90. According to Ackerman [5] C. sasanqua, C. hiemalis, C. oleifera and C. miyagii are generally hexaploids (chromosome number 6X=90).

C. kissi is a diploid (2X=30).

C. sasanqua ‘Narumigata’ is a pentaploid (5X=75)

C. vernalis ‘Hiryu’ was reported to be a triploid (3X=45) by Longley and Tourje (1959 [6], 1960 [7]).

Most C. japonica and C. sinensis are diploid (2X=30).

There are rare cases of triploid C. sinensis (3X=45).

The following numbers of chromosomes were reported by Ackerman [5] for crosses:

According to Ackerman [5] “‘Narumigata’, a pentaploid variety of C. sasanqua, produced hybrids when used as the female parent. However, the chromosome number of its hybrids seem unpredictable. A hybrid, A-24, resulting from C. sasanqua ‘Narumigata’ (5X=75) x C. granthamiana (4X=60) was tetraploid (4X=60). The morphological characters of this hybrid were intermediate. It is generally difficult to assess accurately the contribution of each parent to the hybrid in crosses involving polyploid species without the aid of genetical or cytological markers. However, ‘Narumigata’ may have produced an egg with 30 chromosomes, which united with a sperm carrying 30 chromosomes from C. granthamiana. A hybrid of C. sasanqua ‘Narumigata’ x C. reticulata (6X=90) was hexaploid. In this case, ‘Narumigata’ may have produced an egg cell with 45 chromosomes.”

William Ackerman also reports in his recent correspondence C. vernalis tetraploid (4X=60) and pentaploid (5X=75). This is what one would expect along the following lines, which substantiates the hybrid nature of C. vernalis:

• 1st Generation (F1) hybrid between C. sasanqua 6X=90 x C. japonica 2X=30 with result in gametes 45 + 15 = 60 chromosomes (4X,tetraploid).
• Backcross of resulting F1 hybrid to C. sasanqua: F1 hybrid 4X=60 x C. sasanqua 6X=90 will result in gametes 30 + 45 = 75chromosomes (5X, pentaploid).
• Backcross of resulting F1 hybrid to C. japonica: F1 hybrid 4X=60 x C. japonica 2X=30 will result in gametes 30 + 15 = 45chromosomes (3X, triploid). This triploid will normally be sterile.

Books

[1] Chang Hung Ta. 1981. A taxonomy of the genus Camellia. In Chinese. Acta Scientarum Naturalium Universitatis, Sunyatseni

Chang’s book was revised in 1998 (also in Chinese). English translation of 1981 Chang’s book is available on amazon.com:

[2] Chang Hung Ta, Bruce Bartholomew. 1984. Camellias. Timber Press, Portland, Oregon.

[3] Ming Tianlu. 2000. Monograph of the genus Camellia. Yunnan Science and Technology Press, Kunming, P.R. China

[4] J. Robert Sealy. 1958. A Revision of the Genus Camellia. The Royal Horticultural Society, London

It is possible to buy Sealy’s book on the Internet

Articles

[5] William L. Ackerman. 1971. Genetic and cytological studies with Camellia and related genera. Washington, D. C.

[6] Longley, A. E., and Tourje, E. C. Chromosome numbers of certain camellia species and allied genera. American Camellia Yearbook. 1959: 33-39.

[7] Longley, A. E., and Tourje, E. C. Chromosome numbers of certain camellia species and allied genera. American Camellia Yearbook. 1960: 70-72.

[8] Clifford Parks, K. Kondo and T.Swain. Phytochemical evidence for the genetic contamination of Camellia sasanqua Thunberg. Japanese Journal of Breeding 31(2):168

[9] John M. Ruter. Nursery production of Tea Oil Camellia under different light levels. Trends in new crops and new uses. 2002. J. Janick and A. Whipkey (eds.). ASHS Press, Alexandria, VA.

[10] Xiao Tiaojiang, Clifford Parks. 2002. Molecular analysis of the genus Camellia. University of North Carolina, USA.