tea-oil camellia

Photo: USDA Agricultural Research Service — Public domain · source

Survives zone 7 through 9

Harvest calendar

Best planted in early spring after your last frost, or in fall before the ground freezes, depending on your climate.

The tea-oil camellia — grown across southern China for the oil pressed from its seed, not for tea leaves. Camellia oil is a mild, high-smoke-point cooking oil and a staple of Hunan and Jiangxi kitchens; the plant is one of the world's major woody oil crops, with millions of hectares under it. Handsome white autumn flowers into the bargain.

Hardiness

Zone 7–9

Habit

Shrub

Edible part

Seed

Ripens

Autumn (seed capsules)

Mature size

Large shrub or small tree 3–6 m, occasionally to 8 m

Light

Full sun to partial

Soil pH

5.0–6.5 — ⚠ ACID-LOVING (like Ericaceae)

Environment

Subtropical

Native range

Southern China — Hunan, Jiangxi, Guangxi, Zhejiang and neighbouring provinces — where several million hectares are grown for cooking oil. Long cultivated, and scarcely known wild.

Status

Cultivated

Years to fruit

4–5 yrs to a first crop, 8–10 to full yield

Growth speed

Moderate — four to five years to a first crop, ten to full yield

Spacing

300 cm (118 in) apart — about 9 m² (97 sq ft) per plant

Leaf shape

Alternate, evergreen, elliptic 3–9 cm, thick and leathery with a glossy dark upper surface and finely toothed edges — tea-like, but the plant is grown for seed, not leaf.

Root system

A deep taproot with strong laterals, holding the plant on the eroded red hill soils of southern China where it is mostly planted. Acid-loving and lime-intolerant, like the whole genus.

Fruit description

A woody capsule 2–4 cm ripening in autumn, splitting to release one to several large brown seeds — and the seeds are the crop. Pressed, they give tea-seed oil (camellia oil), a mild high-smoke-point cooking oil that is a staple across southern China. The capsule itself is not eaten.

Propagation

Grafting or cuttings for named oil clones, since the species is self-incompatible and seedlings vary sharply in oil yield. Fresh seed sown at once for rootstocks.

Pollination

SELF-INCOMPATIBLE — plant more than one

The edible parts listed above are a starting point, not a field guide. Identify a plant with certainty — ideally against a local authority — before eating any part of it, and read the full disclaimer. Spotted something wrong? Report it.