[Named (by Linnæus) after Kamel (latinized Camellus), a Moravian Jesuit who described the botany of the island of Luzon. (Often mispronounced as camē·lia.)] A genus of evergreen shrubs belonging to the tea family (Ternströmiaceæ), remarkable for the beauty of their flowers, and chiefly natives of China and Japan. Also attrib., as in camellia-house, -tree.
1753. in Chambers, Cycl. Supp.
1832. Veg. Subst. Food, 202. We are indebted to China for … species of the Camellia, Pœonia, and Rose.
1869. Oliver, Elem. Bot., 147. The favourite Camellias of our plant-houses, evergreen shrubs introduced from Japan.
1885. Lady Brassey, The Trades, 41. Camellia-trees of equally gigantic proportions.
