# FLOWERS OF HONG KONG
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CAMELLIA HONGKONGENSIS, SEEM. ***
Family: Theaceae (Ternstroemiaceae)
Common names: Red Camellia
Red Hong Kong Camellia
The genus Camellia is wholly native to south east Asia with the greatest concentration in abundance and in the number of species in western and southern China. Kwangtung and Hong Kong have been known to have 16 species, 5 of which are indigenous, being only known from Hong Kong. Camellia hongkongensis, with its native home on Hong Kong island, in a spinney, off a beaten track near Peel Rise, was discovered in 1849 by Colonel J. Eyre, R.A. and was first described in 1853, by Dr. Berthold Seemann.
This Camellia is the only local native species with crimson flowers. The combination of the crimson petals, the bright golden anthers, held together below by a brown involucral perule of overlapping bracts and sepals against a background of coriaceous, glossy dark green foliage is strikingly oriental. The numerous stamens of golden anthers and crimson filaments are fused to the petals and to each other, forming a fleshy rim at the base. The gynoecium G(3) consists of a tiny hairy ovary and three glabrous free styles. After blooming, the corolla and androecium are completely shed, leaving the gynoecia, protected by the persistent perules, to develop into large semi-globose brown woody capsular fruits, taking twelve months to mature. Each dehisces explosively but irregularly into three spreading valves which remain attached at the base, dispersing the large seeds and exposing the erect axis (columella) at the centre. The seeds are viable only for a short time and must be sown immediately after dehiscence.
The evergreen trees are tall and slender but much branched, reaching up to 30-40 feet. Blooming time is from December to March when blooms in Hong Kong are rare and precious and the demand for red flowers—a happy colour—is great. Much has been written about this Hong Kong Camellia but many local residents are not acquainted with its appearance nor its existence. It is time to introduce it into cultivation into our gardens and our courtyards. We, in Hong Kong, should be justly proud of producing this special Camellia hongkongensis.