Fruits of Camellia Japonica and Camellia Sasanqua 椿と山茶花の実

Japanese follows English.　英語の後に日本語が続きます。

These are photos of camellia fruits. The first photo is of camellia japonica and the second photo is of camellia sasanqua.  

Japanese people love camellia so much that they talk a lot about how to distinguish between "japonica" and "sasanqua." And one way to tell is to look at the size and skin of their fruits. A camellia japonica fruit is bigger, i.e., about 5 cm in diameter, and has a glossy skin while a camellia sasanqua one is about 3 cm and hairy.

The seeds of both camellia fruits can produce oil (i.e., tea seed oil), which has been used for skin and hair in Japan for a long time. How long? The Shoku Nihongi, i.e., an imperially-commissioned Japanese history text, says that Japan gave the oil to an ambassador sent from Balhae, a multi-ethnic kingdom in Manchuria, the Korean Peninsula and the Russian Far East, in 777. Wow!

Camellia japonica and sasanqua are both the prefectural/city/town flower of many prefectures and municipalities in Japan, and camellia japonica is surprisingly the Alabama state flower😲 

If you're interested in how to distinguish between camellia japonica and camellia sasanqua flowers, read THIS post!!  

Camellia JAPONICA, no hair, 5 cm in diameter 椿の実はツルツルで直径5センチ

Camellia SASANQUA, hairy, 3 cm in diameter 山茶花の実は毛深くて直径3センチ 

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椿と山茶花の実です。椿はつやつやの赤で大き目、山茶花は毛があって小さいんですね。両方ともおいしそうだけど生食用には適さないとのこと。でも椿油は歴史が古いんですね。777年には渤海国からの国使に贈ったという記録が残っているそうです。

どちらも今は多くの県や市町村の花にもなっており、椿は何とアラバマ州の州花です😲。

椿と山茶花の花の見分け方にご興味ある方はこちらもお読みください！

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