camellia
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Camellia ( Camellia japonica ), illustration |
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The camellia ( Camellia japonica ) is one of the best-known plant species within the genus of the camellia ( Camellia ), which in turn belongs to the tea bush family (Theaceae). It is native to East Asia and is closely related to the tea bush . Camellia varieties are popular ornamental plants in Europe that reached their fashionable peak in the 19th century. The plant is not frost hardy .
description
Camellia japonica grows as a very long-lived, evergreen shrub or small tree and reaches heights of 1.5 to 6 (rarely up to 11) meters in the natural habitat. Some Chinese camellias are estimated to be more than 1000 years old. The bark of young twigs is grayish-brown, from the second year they are purple-brown and hairless. The alternate, stalked leaves are simple. The leaf stalks are 5 to 10 mm long. The elliptical, leathery leaf blade has a length of 5 to 10.5 (to 12) cm and a width of 2.5 to 6 (to 7) cm. The upper side of the leaf is dark green and the underside of the leaf is light green with brown spots. The thick median nerve is yellowish green.
The very short-stalked flowers stand individually or in pairs in the leaf axils. The approximately nine bracts and sepals are green. The six to seven (with some varieties even more) ovate to obovate petals are white, pink to red and are 3 to 4.5 × 1.5 to 2.5 cm in size. The five inner petals are fused at their base over a length of 0.5 to 1.5 cm. The many hairless stamens are 2.5 to 3.5 cm long. In the outer circle of the stamen, the stamens have grown together at their base over a length of 1.5 to 2.5 to form a tube. Three carpels are an egg-shaped ovary grown. The approximately 2.8 cm long stylus ends in a three-lobed scar. At the natural site, the flowering period extends from January to March; the camellia varieties bloom in culture in late winter or spring.
The woody, spherical, triple capsule fruit has a diameter of 2.5 to 4.5 cm. Each fruit compartment contains only one or two seeds. The inner sepals and bracts are also clearly visible on the young fruit. The almost spherical, brown seeds have a diameter of 1 to 2 cm. The fruits ripen between September and October.
The number of chromosomes is 2n = 30, 45 or 60.
Cultural history
The Camellia japonica was named by Carl von Linné in 1753 after Georg Joseph Kamel , a Moravian Jesuit priest and pharmacist who worked in Manila and wrote a book about the island of Luzon .
The homeland of the camellia is East Asia ( Nepal , Vietnam , southern China , Korea and southern Japan ). Here it occurs in the East Asian laurel forests (Camellietea japonicae Miyaw. & Ohba 63). The camellia was a popular ornamental shrub in Chinese and Japanese gardens . She played a role in court and tea ceremonies. The single-flowered species in particular are symbolic of friendship, elegance and harmony .
In Japan, where the camellia is called tsubaki ( Japanese 椿 ), it has another symbolic meaning. It loses its red petals one by one while there is still snow, which is reminiscent of drops of blood. Therefore the flower is seen as a symbol of death and transience.
It was described for the first time in Europe by George Meister in his successful travelogue Der Oriental-Indianische Kunst- und Lust-Gärtner 1692:
“Arbor Zuwacky or Sasanqua in Chinese. Is a small tree, 6 to 8 feet tall, with thick, stiff leaves that are notched all around, like pear tree leaves. Its flowers are red like Malva hortensis, simple and double. When they bloom for six days, they fall off and produce a black seed like tea seed. The branches are ash-gray, spreading from their roots. From the dried seeds they chop off an oil with which, because of the good smell, the Japponian women smear their long black hair ... The leaves fall off and come back with their blossoms in spring. "
The first plants are said to have come to Europe in the 16th century by Portuguese sailors from the Portuguese colony of Macau in southern China . However, this thesis is disputed by Helena Attlee, she attributes it to a misunderstanding by the American Frederick G. Meyer. The first recorded live camellias in Europe were shown in 1739 in the greenhouses of Robert Petre, 8th Baron Petre at Thorndon Hall, Essex . Presumably they came from China and came here through Jesuit missionaries or English merchants or seafarers. It was a red-flowered camellia and a white-flowered camellia. Two drawings show the red flowers of this camellia. Peter’s gardener, James Gordon, was the first to market camellias after Peter’s death in 1743.
Since the second half of the 18th century, camellia varieties spread in palace gardens (e.g. in London , Uppsala and Naples ). The first plants came to Germany around 1770 . The Pillnitz camellia also dates from this period . It came to the court nursery of Dresden in 1771 and was planted in 1801 in the park of Pillnitz Castle , where the carmine-red flowering plant is still to this day.
The French Empress Joséphine was particularly fond of camellias. From 1800 onwards, more and more varieties and varieties were introduced. Camellia oleifera first came to Europe in 1811, Camellia maliflora in 1818 and finally Camellia reticulata in 1820 . This started a brisk breeding in large European nurseries, with Belgium initially being the center of camellia breeding. In Germany, the Seidel nursery (from 1813) in Dresden made the camellia popular. In 1862 it had an assortment of 1,100 camellia varieties and exported to all of Europe. The main buyers were noble houses, including the St. Petersburg Tsar's court.
Between 1800 and 1810 the camellia was introduced by a Mr. van Zeller for his garden in Fiães in Vila Nova de Gaia from the " Mile-End " nursery in London. The plant quickly became popular. José Marques Loureiro started cultivating the plant and collecting different species. He founded a nursery in Porto , where in 1884 he offered 868 different species for sale.
In the 19th century, the camellia belonged to the aristocratic and upper-class culture, which is also expressed in Alexandre Dumas' novel " The Lady of the Camellias ". His novel was the template for Verdi's opera “ La traviata ”. In both of them, the camellia was also set as a cultural and historical monument.
Ancient Japanese camellias in Europe
The currently oldest camellias ( Camellia japonica ) in Europe are in the garden of Casa dos Condes de Campo Belo in Vila Nova de Gaia (Portugal), Caserta (Italy) and Dresden-Pillnitz (Germany). They all probably come from the second half of the 18th century.
The camellia in Campo Belo is said to be more than 300 years old, but there is no evidence for this. The trunk base is now 3.30 meters thick, with a division into several individual trunks at a height of 85 cm. The tree is 11 meters high and its crown diameter varies between 10 and 18 meters.
A stone slab in the garden club in Caserta says that the camellia was planted there in 1782 and describes it as "the mother of all camellias in Europe". In 1837 it was demonstrably already 14 meters high with a crown diameter of 6 meters. Today it only consists of individual branches about 5 to 6 meters high, as the main trunk has probably died.
There is also no reliable knowledge about the origin of the Pillnitz camellia , but two theses. After the one she came from Japan to the Royal Garden of Kew (England) around 1776 and from there to Pillnitz. The second says that this camellia came to Pillnitz as a Russian gift in 1770. It seems proven that it was planted in its current location in 1801. It is proven to be the oldest European camellia north of the Alps. The Pillnitz camellia is currently 9 meters high with a crown diameter of 11 meters. Up to 35,000 flowers appear during their flowering period from February to April.
Also in Saxony are probably the second oldest camellia north of the Alps in Roßwein, at over 200 years old, as well as the three Königsbrück camellias , probably planted around 1825 , which are probably the oldest standing camellias north of the Alps .
Plant out in Central Europe
Contrary to popular belief, some camellia varieties can be cultivated outdoors in mild winter regions of Central Europe. This is particularly successful in Northwest and West Germany , which is influenced by the Atlantic, as well as in the climatically favored areas of the Upper Rhine and southern Switzerland . In cold temperatures below minus twelve to fourteen degrees, frostbite of the foliage is to be expected, but this will grow out again with the harder varieties. The coloring buds and flowers freeze to death as early as two or three degrees below zero, so do not plant varieties that bloom too early. Due to the large number of buds, the bush mostly blooms anyway. The bushes can be protected in winter by large branches of spruce rice or by building a tent with leaf filling and a tarpaulin (storm-proof on posts). As long as it is cool, they can tolerate weeks to months of darkness without losing leaves. This also delays flowering and avoids the late frosts.
A partially shaded place with protection from strong winds offers good conditions, as the plant can dry out at sub-zero temperatures. It is also important to ensure that the soil is slightly acidic and permeable and that the camellia's root area is always slightly damp; the soil can be covered with leaves or similar. Waterlogging is harmful, but long rain or heat is well tolerated. The shrub can be cut into shape before it sprouts.
Others
The camellia is a grateful breed plant that often in some branches mutations forms. For example, a plant on a branch can suddenly change its flower color, shape or foliage. If you root a cutting from this branch, the new characteristics are retained.
The oil from the seeds of the camellia is traditionally used to care for and protect Japanese knives and weapons from corrosion.
One of the most important camellia collections is in the botanical collections of the country palace in Beimendorf (today a district of Pirna ). The collection of bog cultivations established here after the Second World War is based on the cultivation of mainly Saxon gardeners.
photos
"Filled" varieties:
Variety 'Pink Perfection'
Unfilled flower:
literature
- Lorenzo Berlese: Monography of the genus Camellia Or: An Essay on Its Culture, Description .. . Boston, J. Breck & Company, 1838
- Haikal, Mustafa : The camellia forest, The history of a German gardening company , Sandstein Verlag, Dresden 2010, ISBN 978-3-942422-17-8 .
- Urban, Helga & Klaus: Kamelien , Ulmer, 1st edition 1995, 3rd edition 2000, ISBN 3-8001-3175-7 .
- Urban, Helga & Klaus: Kamellien im Garten , Ulmer, 1st edition 2003, 2nd edition 2003, ISBN 3-8001-4454-9 .
- Tianlu Min & Bruce Bartholomew: Theaceae in the Flora of China , Volume 12, 404: Camellia japonica - Online.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Camellia japonica at Tropicos.org. In: IPCN Chromosome Reports . Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis
- ↑ According to the convention to use the abbreviation of the first descriptor (here L. for Linné) for the Latin name (genus + species) , the Latin name Camellia japonica L. is common.
- ^ Erich Oberdorfer : Plant-sociological excursion flora for Germany and neighboring areas . 8th edition. Verlag Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-8001-3131-5 . Page 666.
- ↑ cf. Camellia sasanqua
- ^ Helena Attlee, The gardens of Portugal, London, Frances Lincoln 2007, 26
- ^ H. Short: The Truth of Lord Petre's Camellias . In: International Camellia Journal No. 37, 2005, pp. 56-59.
- ^ Helena Attlee, The gardens of Portugal, London, Frances Lincoln 2007, 65.
- ^ Frederick G. Meyer, Plant explorations - ornamentals in Italy, Southern France, Spain, Portugal, England and Scotland. Crop Research 34/9, 1959.
- ^ Robert M. Gimson, Further ventilation on the history of the Oporto calemmias. International Camellia Journal 11, 1979.
- ^ A b P. Vela, JL Couselo, C. Salinero, M. González, MJ Sainz: Morpho-botanic and molecular characterization of the oldest camellia trees in Europe . In: International Camellia Journal , No. 41, 2009, pp. 51-57.
- ↑ Lorenzo Berlèse: Monography of the Genus Camellia Or: An Essay on Its Culture, Description ... , Boston, J. Breck & Company, 1838.
- ^ Stephanie Jäger: The work of the court gardener Carl Adolf Terscheck in Dresden . In: Communications of the Landesverein Sächsischer Heimatschutz 1 (1995), pp. 31–35: Ill.
- ↑ The Roßwein camellia. Roßwein Heimatverein, accessed on January 29, 2017 .
- ↑ Königsbrück camellia story. Königsbrücker Heimatverein, February 16, 2006, accessed on January 25, 2017 .
- ↑ Camellia Castle, Beimendorf. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on February 9, 2017 ; accessed on January 31, 2017 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
