FLOWERS OF HONG KONG
47
GORDONIA AXILLARIS (ROXB.) DIETR.
Family: Theaceae ✯✯
Common names: Mountain tea-flower
Mountain or Wild Camellia
山 茶 花
This hardy evergreen shrub or small tree with its many branches bears white camellia-like flowers, and is very common on the hillsides of Hong Kong and the New Territories. It is a tropical or subtropical plant and this species has been found in South China, Formosa and Indo-China.
The showy white flowers, 3-4 inches in diameter, bloom fully from October to March. The five spreading white petals are notched with slightly wavy margins, displaying a golden mass of anthers at the centre and held at the base by a green perule of bracts and sepals. The flowers, almost sessile, arise singly or in cluster of three, from the axils of the upper leaves. Each flower lasts for one day only, when the corolla together with the numerous stamens fused at the base, are shed from the trees. The perules persist, subtending the developing woody, oblong elliptical capsule, one inch long, green when young but becoming dark brown when mature, taking six months to ripen. Each dehisces loculicidally from the apex to nearly the base, into five narrow pointed valves, splitting away from the erect columella at the centre and liberating many small seeds, each apically winged and resembles the winged seeds of Pinus.
The plant was originally named, Camellia axillaris (Kor.) Roxb. but has been separated and transferred to the genus Gordonia by the distinctive characters of the capsule, the loculi-cidal dehiscence from the apex and the winged seeds.
FLOWERS OF HONG KONG
47
GORDONIA AXILLARIS (ROXB.) DIETR.
Family: Theaceae ✯✯
Common names: Mountain tea-flower
Mountain or Wild Camellia
山 茶 花
This hardy evergreen shrub or small tree with its many branches bears white camellia-like flowers, and is very common on the hillsides of Hong Kong and the New Territories. It is a tropical or subtropical plant and this species has been found in South China, Formosa and Indo-China.
The showy white flowers, 3-4 inches in diameter, bloom fully from October to March. The five spreading white petals are notched with slightly wavy margins, displaying a golden mass of anthers at the centre and held at the base by a green perule of bracts and sepals. The flowers, almost sessile, arise singly or in cluster of three, from the axils of the upper leaves. Each flower lasts for one day only, when the corolla together with the numerous stamens fused at the base, are shed from the trees. The perules persist, subtending the developing woody, oblong elliptical capsule, one inch long, green when young but becoming dark brown when mature, taking six months to ripen. Each dehisces loculicidally from the apex to nearly the base, into five narrow pointed valves, splitting away from the erect columella at the centre and liberating many small seeds, each apically winged and resembles the winged seeds of Pinus.
The plant was originally named, Camellia axillaris (Kor.) Roxb. but has been separated and transferred to the genus Gordonia by the distinctive characters of the capsule, the loculi- cidal dehiscence from the apex and the winged seeds.
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