Camellia azalea, also known as Azalea Tea, Four Seasons Tea, Four Seasons Azalea Red Camellia, or “Fake Big Head Tea”, resembles a camellia in its flowers and an azalea in its leaves. It has the reputation of being the “panda of the plant world” and was once on the brink of extinction.
The azalea red camellia, a native plant of China and a national first-class protected plant, is blooming in the Shanghai Botanical Garden, attracting wide attention in the botanical world.
Its distribution area is extremely narrow, only sporadically found in Yangchun, and it has a high ornamental value.
The number of wild specimens is scarce, and it is also rare in the camellia market, and it was almost extinct due to brutal poaching.
Growth and Distribution
The Azalea Leaf Camellia is a unique species of camellia in China. It naturally grows on both banks of the Honghua Tan Creek in the Hewei Forest Farm of the Goose Phoenix Ridge Nature Reserve in Yangchun City, Guangdong Province, and is rarely seen in the camellia market.
It is mainly distributed in Yunnan, Guangxi, Guangdong, and Sichuan in China. The number of wild individuals is scarce, and it was almost extinct due to brutal poaching.
In the 1980s, Azalea Red Camellia was discovered in Goose Phoenix Ridge, Yangchun County, Guangdong Province, China.
Morphology and Characteristics
Azalea Leaf Camellia is an evergreen shrub, 1~2.5m high, up to 5m at its highest, with a crown width of 0.5~1m, and a maximum diameter at breast height of about 5.8cm.
It is shade-loving or semi-shade-loving, and can shoot 3~4 times a year. The plant shape is compact, with dense branches. Young branches are hairless and slightly red, and old branches are smooth and gray-brown.
The leaves are ovate, long ovate, and heart-shaped lanceolate, with a round or slightly concave tip, and a cuneate base. The leaves are glossy dark green on the upper surface, light green on the lower surface, hairless on both sides, and slightly grayish.
The leaf is entire, sometimes with 2~5 pairs of serrations at the leaf tip, with transparent bony edges. The leaves are alternate or whorled, mostly gathered at the top of the branch; the petiole is 0.6~1.2cm long and hairless.
When buds are sprouted, many leaves (7~8) are seen to emerge first, with the distance between the first true leaf and the top leaf gradually shortening. Basically, there is one flower in each leaf axil from the top of the branch downwards, with each shoot producing 1~8 flower buds.
The flowers are bright red or pink, with no flower stalk; flowers on the branch gradually open from bottom to top, creating a continuous flowering phenomenon on the entire plant. There are 5~9 petals, 2~5 split stigmas, and the outer circle of stamens forms a barrel shape.
There are 7~11 scales, the ovary is ovoid and hairless, and the fruit is a capsule, ovoid, spindle-shaped, or conical, with 2~4 rooms, each room with 2 seeds. When mature, the fruit skin turns from green to brown-black or brown, and the fruit cracks open.
Habits
Camellia azalea lives along streams in dense forests with sparse population. The average annual temperature of its growth area is 22.1℃, the highest temperature is 38.4℃, the lowest temperature is -1.8℃, the average temperature in July is 28.2℃, and the average temperature in January is 14.3℃.
The annual sunshine hours are 1200 hours, and the frost-free period is 350 days. The average annual rainfall is 3428.9mm, and the relative humidity is 85%. The soil is derived from granite and red soil, with a soil pH of 5.5-6.
Azalea Red Camellia is generally distributed in the understory of the forest canopy, at an altitude of 217~237 meters. Its plant community is dominated by pan-tropical components, with obvious characteristics of the northern margin of the tropics.
It prefers a warm, humid, and semi-shady environment, has strong shade tolerance, is slightly cold-tolerant, and likes deep, fertile, humus-rich acidic soil.
Main Varieties
Nanyue Hongxia: The flower diameter is 12~13 cm, the flower is bright red and has a velvet sheen. There are 7~10 petals, which are round and thick, flat and straight. The anthers are golden, and the filaments are light pink.
The blooming period is from June to December, and it can bloom all year round in warm regions. This is a variant of Red Camellia bred by the Guangdong Palm Valley Camellia Garden.
Hongxing Mingyue: The flower diameter is 8~11 cm, the flower is bright red with a velvet sheen. There are 5~7 petals, which are long and bar-shaped, almost flatly laid, occasionally pentagonal.
The anthers are golden, and the filaments are light pink. The blooming period is from June to December, and it can bloom all year round in warm regions. This is a variant of Red Camellia bred by the Guangdong Palm Valley Camellia Garden.
Dujuan Baozhu: It has a torch-shaped form. The flowers are red, the outer wheel is made of large petals, and the stamens in the flower heart have almost all turned into small petals, forming a ball-shaped protrusion.
Hua Dujuan Cha: The flower diameter is 6~10 cm, it is a variant of Azalea Red Camellia grafted onto Red Dew Pearl as a rootstock.
The flowers are peach-red, the petals have white patches, and there are 5~9 petals, each 4.5~8 cm long. The flowering period is from summer to winter, and sometimes it blooms all year round.
Cultivation Method
Site Selection and Land Preparation
Choose a warm and humid environment, well-drained, loose and fertile sandy loam, loam, or humus soil. The optimal pH value is 5.5～6.5.
When preparing the land, deep ploughing is required, sufficient base fertilizer should be applied, and the high beds should be made about 120 cm wide.
Potting Method
Use light loam soil, that is, ash slag, alum fertilizer water, and three-in-one soil. Fill the bottom of the pot with 3 cm thick fine ash slag, then add a suitable amount of pot soil, occupying 1/3 of the pot volume, add more water, after the water seeps, plant the camellia seedling with soil into the pot. Generally, the pot soil is changed once a year.
Post-Cutting Management
After cuttings, erect a 50cm high rack and use a sunshade net for shading. Control the frequency of watering weekly, maintaining the temperature between 20~28℃.
Ensure humidity is kept between 75%~95%, this will accelerate internal cell division, allowing for the early sprouting of new roots.
After the cutting has taken root, apply 0.5g/L of foliar fertilizer every 7~10 days. Once budding occurs, uncover the shade in the morning, evening or on cloudy days, gradually increasing light exposure. Timely fertilize and prevent pest and disease infestations.
Post-Grafting Care
Grafted plants must have their humidity appropriately adjusted. Too dry or too wet conditions are unfavorable for wound healing tissue formation.
Constantly check the plastic bag, ensuring it does not come in contact with the graft, preventing water on the bag from flowing to the graft joint.
Around 40~50 days, once the graft starts budding, remove the plastic bag, removing buds sprouting on the rootstock to prevent interference with graft growth.
Timely removal is key, as any sprouting should be removed immediately. Once the healing tissue wraps the graft and rootstock, remove the binding string.
Post-grafting management includes erecting sunshade nets to prevent direct sunlight. Water every 2-3 days to avoid waterlogging. Apply decomposed organic fertilizer once in September and then again 15 days later.
From October to November, the grafted plants will sprout a second time. After sprouting, timely apply phosphorus-potassium fertilizer to promote woodiness in the branches and prevent frost damage in winter.
Subsequently, apply decomposed organic fertilizer every 20 days in spring and autumn.
In the second spring, appropriate pruning can be carried out, mainly pruning branches without offshoots and overly rapid growing branches to maintain a full plant shape. Some grafted seedlings will bloom in June, you can remove some flowers to promote nutritional growth.
Field Management
After propagating Camellia azalea through cuttings, it is crucial to maintain soil moisture and timely fertilize, but over-fertilization should be avoided. During management, alternate between fertilizer and water when watering plants.
Start watering in spring, gradually increase the frequency, decrease in August and stop watering in September. The principle of watering is to alternate between dry and wet periods.
Avoid heavy pruning during trimming, removing some weak and overly dense branches is enough. Camellia azalea is a multiple-flowering species, thinning of the buds should be performed during bud formation.
Choose a warm, moist environment with well-drained, loose, and fertile sandy loam soil. The optimum soil pH value is between 5.5 and 6.5.
During field preparation, deep plowing is required, apply enough base fertilizer, and build approximately 120cm wide raised beds to prevent root rot from waterlogging.
When potting, a mixture of peat soil and river sand in a 1:1 ratio is ideal. Try to keep the root system intact during transplantation to prevent wilting. Change the pot soil once a year. During cultivation, control watering to 5~7 times a week, and apply fertilizer once a month.
To make the plant shape attractive, appropriate pruning can be performed, but heavy pruning should be avoided, cut off some weak and overly dense branches.
Camellia azalea has many buds, to make the flowers large and bright, thinning of the buds should be performed during bud formation.
Disease and Pest Control
For root rot disease, a solution of Bordeaux mixture diluted 500 times can be used for prevention and treatment. Pests such as ground beetles and mole crickets can be managed using a solution of methylaminophos diluted 500 times.
In high-temperature and rainy seasons, leaf spot disease is likely to occur, and regular spraying of methylenetobuzin is required for prevention and control.
Camellia azaleas are resistant and rarely suffer from disease or pest infestation when grown in large quantities. However, there may occasionally be issues with leaf spot disease, anthracnose, leaf curlers, scale insects, aphids, and red spiders.
- Diseases
Leaf Spot Disease: This primarily affects the leaves, causing infected leaves to fall off. Most of the time, it’s caused by hot, unventilated, and damp environments.
At the early stage of infection, spray twice with a solution of carbendazim diluted 800 to 1000 times, or alternatively, use a solution of 50% tolclofos-methyl diluted 1000 times.
Anthracnose: This mainly affects the leaves with spots mostly found on leaf tips and edges. It can also affect twigs, fruits, and buds, leading to leaf and flower drop. For prevention and control, spray with a solution of carbendazim wettable powder diluted 800 to 1000 times.
During the peak period of infection from June to September, spray once every half a month with a solution of thiophanate-methyl wettable powder diluted 500 to 800 times. If the disease is severe, apply the treatment 2-3 times over five consecutive days.
- Pests
Leaf Curlers: Also known as leaf-rolling moths or glue caterpillars. The larvae feed on new buds, tender leaves, and flower buds, seriously affecting the growth and blooming of the plant. To prevent and control, manually remove the larvae from infected leaves or spray with a solution of 2.5% beta-cypermethrin emulsion diluted 1000 to 2000 times.
Scale Insects: These pests often hide in dark, poorly ventilated areas and can cause the branches and leaves of the plant to wither and yellow, even leading to the death of the whole plant.
When scale insects are found, spray with a solution of 25% propoxur wettable powder diluted 1000 times or 40% fast-acting insecticide emulsion diluted 800 to 1000 times.
Aphids: They congregate and cause damage on leaves, tender stems, flower buds, and shoot tips, leading to leaf shrinkage, curling, and even falling off. For scattered appearances, promptly spray with a solution of 10% imidacloprid wettable powder diluted 1000 times, or 21% imidacloprid diluted 2000 to 3000 times.
Red Spiders: Tiny in size and hidden on the undersides of leaves, they are hard to spot in the early stages of infestation. In severe cases, new leaves will change to a pallid green color and may even fall off. To control, regularly check the undersides of new leaves between May and August.
Upon detecting red spiders, take early action and choose a specialized mite-killing agent to spray. If there are other leaf-eating pests, use a solution of 2.5% beta-cypermethrin emulsion diluted 1500 to 3000 times.
Value and Others
The Azalea Red Camellia is a valuable and highly ornamental woody flowering species. Its large, bright flowers, unique leaves, and beautiful crown have attracted the attention of many landscape and research workers.
The plant structure and leaf shape of the Azalea Red Camellia also indicate that it has great potential for development in various areas such as landscape trees, hedges, bonsai, and cut flowers.
The Azalea Red Camellia is so named because its appearance is very similar to an azalea, but it is actually a camellia.
The ordinary camellia, which has the bold character of a plum blossom and the flamboyance of a peony, has been a renowned woody flowering plant since ancient times, and it has earned the reputation of being a “world famous flower. The beauty of the Azalea Red Camellia surpasses even that of the ordinary camellia.
Peggie was once a high school mathematics teacher, but she set aside her chalkboard and textbooks to follow her lifelong passion for flowers. After years of dedication and learning, she not only established a thriving flower shop but also founded this blog, “Flowers Library”. Here, Peggie shares the art and science of floristry, offers practical tips for nurturing plants, delves into the captivating histories of various species, and provides insights into running a successful flower shop. She hopes that everyone can take a moment now and then to immerse themselves in the world of flowers. If you have any questions or wish to learn more about flowers, feel free to contact Peggie.
