Commemorating James Gordon (1728–91), English nurseryman.
Evergreen trees or shrubs. Leaves alternate, stalked, entire or toothed. Flowers solitary in the leaf axils, distinctly stalked. Bracts 2-5 below the sepals. Sepals and petals 5. Stamens numerous, fused into a ring at the base, the anthers attached to the filaments near the middle.
Ovary with 3-5 chambers, each containing 4-8 seeds. Style 3-5 lobed. Fruit a woody capsule with 5 valves.
Seed, layers, softwood cuttings.
Distinctive long leaves and stalked white flowers with yellow stamens; seed winged.
70 species SE Asia and warm areas of S North America.
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.
