Japanese Camellia (Camellia Japonica) ツバキ（椿）

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A fruit of Japanese camellia. Japanese camellia blooms resemble sasanqua camellia blooms very much but their fruits do not. In autumn, this should look like chocolates.

2026/7/15

2023/11/6

Japanese Camellia 'Beauty Blush' ツバキ 'Beauty Blush'

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These are Japanese camellia 'Beauty Blush.' It was my first time to see this type of camellias. The blooms are so small (and many of them were still buds) that I didn't realize they're camellias when photographing them. I was lucky though. A couple of bees with bee pollen came, starting to collect pollen. The bee pollen of one of the bees was so big (1st photo) that I worried if it might fall but that was an unnecessary worry. The bee landed from one flower to another collecting pollen from each flower and flew away.    

2026/4/5

2026/4/5

2026/4/5

Variegated Japanese Camellia (Camellia Japonica) 斑入り椿

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There are more than 250 types of Japanese camellias and more than a thousand for camellias, i.e., Japanese camellias and sasanqua camellias. This variegated one is one of them. Variegated camellias are caused by viral infections, genetic mutations, or other reasons and have been appreciated and improved in Japan as an "oddity" since the Edo period (1603-1867). 

2026/3/21

2026/3/21

"Thousand-Flowered" Pink, Red, and White Japanese Camellias 千重咲きのピンク、赤、白の椿

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Japanese camellia (Camellia japonica) has many cultivars and this is one of them, "thousand flowered" Japanese camellias. You don't see stamens because their stamens (and pistils) have disappeared or degenerated, or changed into petals.  

The fact that these camellias have no stamens gave rise to one question for me, i.e. how a thousand flowered camellia dies. Will it fall off in its entirety like other usual Japanese camellias even though it has no stamens? The question occurred to me because the stamens of Japanese camellias (more specifically, the filament part) connect with petals, which allows their unique way of dying as opposed to sasanqua camellias, which die with petals falling off one by one without such connection. The answer is in the 7th photo. Even without stamens, a thousand flowered Japanese camellia falls off in its entirety. A Japanese camellia is a Japanese camellia whether it has stamens or not.  

2026/3/21

2026/3/21

2026/3/8

2026/1/17

2026/3/8

Variegated Camellias 斑入り椿

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You would find Japanese camellias here and there in Tokyo (and across Japan) but not so often when it comes to variegated blooms. 

Interestingly, some camellia trees have blooms of different colors, e.g., deep pink, pale pink, and variegated, depending on the amount of anthocyanins. The tree in the 1st and 2nd photos has only one variegated bloom while the tree in the 5th photo has both pink and variegated blooms. Nature always fascinates me!   

Japanese camellias have been appreciated since at least the 8th century in Japan and cultivated for a long time across Japan (and in other countries, too). As a result, there currently exist about 250 types of Japanese camellias worldwide.  

2026/3/6

2026/3/6

薄ピンクのツバキ

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I've seen Japanese camellia (Camellia japonica) blooms many times but it's my first time to see such beautiful pale pink blooms with no spots. While I was photographing them, a horsefly came, starting to have breakfast (2nd and 3rd photos). 

2026/2/23

2026/2/23

White Japanese Camellia 白椿

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In winter, you would see sasanqua camellias in many places in Tokyo. You would also find red Japanese camellias quite often, but not white Japanese camellias. The flowering season of Japanese camellia (Camellia japonica) is from December to April, the end of which overlaps with the beginning of the cherry blossom season. White Japanese camellias mean "perfection," "admiration," and "lovely." 

2025/2/9

2025/2/9

Plants in the Snow 雪の日の花たち

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It's snowing in Central Tokyo, which is unusual and fun!  

2026/2/8 Weeping Japanese apricot 枝垂れ梅

2026/2/8

2026/2/8 Sasanqua camellia 山茶花

2026/2/8 Wintersweet 蝋梅

Japanese Camellia 'Bokuhan-Nishiki' (Camellia Japonica 'Bokuhan-Nishiki') （ボクハンツバキ）卜伴椿

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I've seen red, white, and pink Japanese camellias. I've seen single, double, and thousand-flowered Japanese camellias. I've seen variegated Japanese camellias, too. But never these ones. They're Japanese camellia 'Bokuhan-nishiki' (Camellia japonica 'Bokuhan-nishiki'). Their mophead-like flower center is very unique, isn't it? The flower center consists of petals, which have been transformed from stamens, a different type of transformation gone through by thousand-flowered Japanese camellias, whose stamens (and pistils) have changed into petals and disappeared. 

The camellia is named after Bokuhan, a Japanese tea master in the Edo period, who loved the camellia. 

2026/1/24

2026/1/24

Camellia Fruits (Camellia Japonica and Camellia Sasanqua) 椿と山茶花の実

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Camellia trees in my neighborhood have started fruit and one of the differences between the Camellia japonica and the Camellia sasanqua is the fruit. 

Japanese people love Camellia so much that they talk a lot about how to distinguish between "japonica" and "sasanqua." One way to tell is to look at the size and skin of their fruits. Also, a Camellia japonica fruit is bigger (i.e., about 5 cm in diameter) with 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 the Camellia japonica is surprisingly the Alabama state flower.

If you're interested in another (easy!) way to tell the Camellia japonica from the Camellia sasanqua, read THIS post, too!!  

2025/7/10 Camellia japonica

2021/8/5 Camellia JAPONICA, no hair, 5 cm in diameter
椿の実はツルツルで直径5センチ

Variegated Camellia and White Camellia (Camellia Japonica) 斑入り椿と白椿

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The first photo is of a white and pink variegated Japanese camellia (Camellia japonica). Pink or red Japanese camellias are often seen and the white ones sometimes but the variegated ones rarely. The stark contrast between the white and pink petals, the long yellow stamens and the deep green leaves is striking. The second and subsequent photos are of white camellias. 

2025/1/30

Japanese Camellia Meant Beheading😱 for Samurai 落椿（落ちツバキ）

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What do you see in the first picture? Just a camellia on the ground? That's not wrong, but samurai or members of the Japanese warrior caste were reminded of a beheaded head, and that's why Japanese camellias were unpopular among, and considered ominous by, them.

I took the third and subsequent photos a few years ago at Yushima Seidō or Yushima Sacred Hall, a Confucian temple in Tokyo established in 1690 by Tsunayoshi Tokugawa, the fifth shōgun during the Edo period (1603 to 1868). Later on, Shōhei-zaka Gakumonjo, one of the then most important educational institutions, was also founded there.

2025/1/24

2025/1/24

Red Japanese Camellias (Camellia Japonica) 赤いツバキ（椿）

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A Japanese camellia tree in my neighborhood has produced one flower to another, creating the beautiful contrast between the red blooms surrounded by the deep green leaves against the blue sky (2nd photo). I also found something. Small bugs were on the stamens on several blooms, basking in the sun. 

2025/1/14

2025/1/14

Japanese Camellia (Camellia Japonica) ツバキ（椿）

英語の後に日本語が続きます。

I've been enjoying beautiful camellia sasanquas since last year and when seeing them, I've always thought of another camellia, i.e., Japanese camellia. Can you tell which is which? 

Camellia sasanquas bloom from November to March while Japanese camellias flower from January to April. There's also another difference (as I've written many times), i.e., how a flower dies. A sasanqua flower dies with petals falling off one by one whereas a Japanese camellia flower falls off in its entirety. Now, I can tell which is which but until a few years ago I couldn't. Learning enables you to appreciate things around you more deeply. 

2025/1/6

2025/1/6

Double-Flowered Pink Camellia ピンクの八重椿

英語の後に日本語が続きます。

This looks like an artificial flower, doesn't it? But it's not. This is a Japanese camellia (Camelia japonica). I've seen Japanese camellia many times, but this is the most beautifully-shaped double flowered camellia I've ever seen. 

Double-flowered pink camellia　ピンクの八重椿

Red Camellia 真っ赤な落椿

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

People across Japan are excited about the start of the cherry blossom season, but they are missing something as beautiful as cherry blossoms. Camellia trees are now in full bloom, so the flower heads in my neighborhood are scattered on the ground as shown in the second photo!! 

Japanese camellia look like sasanqua and experts provide several ways to distinguish these two camellia flowers, i.e., the size of trees and the timing of flowering, but the most interesting difference is how they fall or die. 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 their beauty, camellia flowers were unpopular among samurai. Unlike Japanese camellia, sasanqua flowers die with petals falling off one by one.

Red camellia is in full bloom　椿が満開

 

Camellia flower heads reminded samurai of beheaded human heads
これが首を連想させたそうです

Red Japanese Camellia (Camellia Japonica) 赤い椿

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

These are Japanese camellia (Camellia japonica). Several camellia trees grow in my neighborhood but this one produces much bigger flowers than the others and I know why. This tree is in the garden of an apartment complex and the owner must have grown it very carefully. 

They're so beautiful, but sadly the complex will be demolished soon for urban redevelopment.

Japanese camellia　椿

Camellia Japonica (Japanese Camellia) 椿（ツバキ）

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

This is a fruit of Camellia japonica or more commonly known as Japanese camellia. It looks yummy (maybe because of the red color?) but is not edible and used to make oil for skin and hair in Japan.   

Camellia japonica 椿

Camellia Japonica (Japanese Camellia) 椿（ツバキ）

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

This is Camellia japonica or Japanese camellia. I thought that Japanese camellia produces flowers in winter, but it actually flowers from February to April.

One of the flowers has a lot of pollen on the petals (3rd photo). Japanese camellia is not entomophilous, i.e., pollinated by insects, but ornithophilous, i.e., pollinated by birds, and mostly by warbling white eyes.

  

Camellia Japonica 椿

Japanese camellia ツバキ

Camellia Japonica/Sasanqua Seeds Look Like Chocolates😋 椿と山茶花の種はチョコみたい😋

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

These are camellia japonica and camellia sasanqua seeds. In August, I enjoyed glossy red camellia japonica fruits and hairy camellia sasanqua fruits, and at that time I didn't expect these fruits to crack, showing such beautiful seeds like dark chocolate (i.e., camellia JAPONICA) and macadamia nut chocolate (camellia SASANQUA)😋!  

Camellia seeds can produce oil (i.e., tea seed oil) used for skin and hair in Japan. The oil has been used for so long that The Shoku Nihongi, i.e., an imperially-commissioned Japanese history text, says that Japan gave the oil to an ambassador 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😲

Camellia JAPONICA seed looks like dark chocolate 椿の種はダークチョコ

Camellia SASANQUA seed is like macadamia nut chocolate 山茶花の種はマカダミアチョコ？