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Camellia oleifera
Also called Tea Oil Camellia
Camellia oleifera is an evergreen shrub or small tree from China, grown mainly for the edible oil pressed from its seeds. It is also grown as an ornamental with fragrant white autumn flowers, and it is grown as a crop rather than a common houseplant.
Camellia oleifera, which originated in China, is notable as an important source of edible oil (known as tea oil or camellia oil) obtained from its seeds. It is commonly known as the oil-seed camellia or tea oil camellia, though to a lesser extent other species of camellia are used in oil production too.
It is widely distributed in China and is cultivated extensively there. It is found in forests, thickets, banks of streams and foothills at elevations of 500 to 1,300 metres.
The seeds of Camellia oleifera can be pressed to yield tea seed oil, a sweetish seasoning and cooking oil. In tea seed oil, oleic acid, a monounsaturated fatty acid comprises ~80% of the total fatty acid content - the oil is similar in composition to olive oil. After the tea seed oil is extracted, the seed itself still serves a purpose. The Camellia oil cake is used as an anti-inflammatory and antioxidant.
Hong Kong Camellia · Camellia · Camellia petelotii · To-tsubaki · Sasanqua camellia · Tea · Camellia taliensis · Camellia ×williamsii · Tea
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Camellia oleifera by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
