Sasanqua camellias (Camellia sasanqua) are native to Japan and can be found across Japan. The plant produces white, pink, and red flowers from October to December, earlier than Japanese camellia (Camellia japonica), which is one of the differences between the two camellias.
These two camellias resemble each other and experts provide several ways to distinguish them. One is the size of trees and another the timing of flowering, but the most interesting difference is how they fall or die. Sasanqua flowers die with petals falling off one by one while when Japanese camellia flowers die, the flower heads fall off in their entirety and this way of dying was associated with beheaded human heads in the Edo (samurai) period. Naturally, despite its beauty, the Japanese camellia was unpopular among samurai. If you're interested in such "beheaded" camellias, read this post!
If you're interested in other marble colored flowers, read the following posts!
- Pink and white marble colored Japanese apricot
- Red and white marble colored flowering peach
- Pink and white variegated bush clover
| 2025/11/1 |