Commemorating John Stuart, Earl of Bute, chief advisor to Augusta, Prince Dowager of Wales, when she founded the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in 1759–60.
Deciduous shrubs or small trees. Bark peeling like a plane tree. Leaves alternate, simple, toothed. Flowers bisexual, white, axillary, solitary. Sepals 5(-6), persistent. Petals 5(-8), fused at the base. Stamens numerous; anthers joined to the filaments in the centre. Ovary superior, 5-chambered, without a central column. Fruit a woody capsule splitting from the apex; seeds 1-4 per chamber.
Seed sown immediately, layers, semi-hardwood cuttings.
Deciduous leaves; flowers stalked; fruit without a persistent column.
6 species from E Asia and E 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.
