Camellia lutchuensis

Camellia lutchensis is in the tea or Theaceae family and is a deciduous shrub or tree native to China (southern Guangxi, Hong Kong) and Japan (including the Ryukyu Islands). It can reach a height of about 3 m tall.

• Branchlets are greyish brown with spreading pubescence, which lasts up to three years.
• Leaves are thin and leathery, 2.5–4.5 cm long and 1–1.8 cm broad, oblong to elliptic, upper surface bright green and sparsely pubescent along the midrib, lower surface pale green and sparsely pubescent along the midrib, six to eight secondary veins on each side of the midrib, margins minutely serrate, apex bluntly acute to acuminate; petiole is 0.1–0.3 cm long, pubescent.
• Flowers are solitary, fragrant, pedicel 0.1–0.25 cm long, 5-6 white, ovate petals 1–1.5 cm long, 5 ovate to lanceolate sepals; flowering is in January to March.
• Capsule is subglobose, 1 cm diameter, usually with a single seed, ripening in September to October.