Shrub to 5 m tall. Branchlets mostly hairy. Leaves crowded, narrowly oblong mostly 5-7 cm long, 1.5-2.5 cm wide and narrowing at both ends, mostly blunt at the tip, shiny above with the veins visible below. Bracts prominent and persistent forming a collar 1-2.5 cm deep. Flowers to 8 cm wide, pink to red with 5-7 petals. Sepals with little if any hair. Stamens with outer filaments united to form a deep cup. Ovary hairy. Fruit thin, mostly 3-celled.
Widely used for hybridisation, most notably with C. japonica to produce the C. ×williamsii hybrids.
China (Yunnan)
Leaves mostly crowded on the stem, blunt at the tip, vein reticulations prominent; stamens united to form a cup deeper than one third the length of the stamens.
Camellia hongkongensis Seem. is sometimes grown in warmer districts as it is a more 'tropical' species with long leaves, membranous sepals and bracts, and 3 free styles.
Source: (1997). Camellia. In: . Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 2. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 1. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.
