History 101: How Camellias Won the West, Bradford King

摘要

Camellias are native to eastern Asia, including China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand, Burma, and the islands adjacent to these countries. The Buddhist priests were known to travel widely carrying camellia seeds with them, thus distributing camellias throughout eastern Asia. Camellia sinensis, the tea plant, has been cultivated and used for tea for many centuries in China. The earliest accounts from 2737 B.C. discuss the cultivation of tea. Camellia species such as oleifera and chekiangoleosa have also been the source of cooking oil since the seventh century. In the 11th century, P. Chao, a Chinese botanist listed 72 cultivars of C. reticulata growing in China. These cultivars are known as the Yunnan reticulata and are most likely the result of cross pollination between C reticulata and C. pitardii. The Chinese have