Camellia azalea C. F. Wei

Shrubs 1-2.5 m tall. Young branches grayish brown; current year branchlets reddish brown, glabrous. Petiole 6-10(-15) mm, glabrous; leaf blade obovate to long obovate, 5.5-12 × 2-4 cm, leathery, abaxially pale green or glaucescent, adaxially dark green, both surfaces glabrous, midvein thick and elevated on both surfaces, secondary veins 6-8 on each side of midvein, slender, and visible on both surfaces, base cuneate, margin entire and slightly revolute, apex broadly obtuse to rounded and sometimes emarginate. Flowers subterminal, solitary or to 5 in a cluster, 8-10 cm in diam., subsessile. Bracteoles and sepals 8-11; outer 3-6 bracteoles and sepals semiorbicular to broadly ovate, 3-8 mm; inner 5 bracteoles and sepals persistent, ovate, 1.5-2 cm, outside glabrous, inside silvery sericeous, margin ciliolate. Petals 6-9, roseate, nearly distinct, obovate to long obovate, 3-8.5 × 2-4.5 cm, basally attenuate, apex emarginate. Stamens 3.5-4 cm, in ca. 4 whorls, glabrous; outer filament whorl basally connate for 1.5-1.8 cm. Ovary ovoid, glabrous, 3(or 4)-loculed; style ca. 3.5 cm, glabrous, 3(or 4)-parted for ca. 1 cm. Capsule ovoid, 2-2.5 × ca. 2 cm, 3-loculed with 2 seeds per locule; pericarp ca. 2 mm thick when dry, smooth, glabrous, splitting into 3 valves. Seeds brown, semiglobose, 1.5-2 cm in diam., glabrous. Fl. Oct-Dec, fr. Aug-Sep.

Guangdong (Yangchun).

● Forests in hilly areas, among boulders by rivers; 100-500 m.

Camellia changii C. X. Ye.