camellia

plural camellias

1. Any plant of the genus Camellia, shrubs and small trees native to Asia; Camellia japonica is the most popular as a garden plant; Camellia sinensis is the tea plant.

   Palms towered majestically over the heads of the lower shrubs, and camellias, stephanotis, and many other semi-tropical flowers were growing luxuriantly in the open air.

   1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 22

   2 more examples

   Plucking an occasional camellia, getting a squirt of hot milk from Miss Maudie Atkinson’s cow on a summer day, helping ourselves to someone’s scuppernongs was part of our ethical culture, but money was different.

   1960 July 11, Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird, Philadelphia, Pa.; New York, N.Y.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott Company, →OCLC

   I already hinted at the problem of sea eutrophication (where excess nutrients cause algae to flourish) due to the phosphates that used to be added to washing powder, and, surely, it is not pleasant for plants to find underfoot (or, better, "underroot") those surfactants we use daily at home (please, never pour your dishwater on the roots of a magnificent camellia, even if it is blooming in the garden of a next-door neighbor you cannot stand).

   2011, Roberto Piazza, Soft Matter: The stuff that dreams are made of, page 130

1. A suburb of Sydney in the Parramatta council area, New South Wales, Australia.