With the possible exception of the rose, no flower was more adored in the Victorian era than the one that stood in the Language of Flowers for "excellence" and "perfect loveliness." The camellia offered everything: novelty, showy blooms, and Oriental origins. (The Victorians were infatuated with the Far East.) The excellent import also tolerated--even preferred—the dim and chilly atmosphere of the parlor.
A novel called La Dame aux Camelias, which associated the flower with loose women, eventually caused the wealthy to cut the plant dead, so to speak. But the lower prices associated with decreased popularity allowed the middle classes to redeem this beauty from its titillating infamy.
The camellia also provided just enough challenge to be interesting. Though the plant itself is easy enough to keep alive, it will only set and keep buds if nighttime temperatures of 40 to 50 degrees are assiduously maintained. So, although it can be grown outdoors in the South, most Victorians kept it on their windowsills.
Unfortunately, modern central heating makes the camellia harder to please, except for those hobbyists with cool greenhouses. On the plus side, new cold-hardy crosses of camellia oleifera and sasanqua may allow even those of us in northern climes to cultivate this southern belle outdoors.
And one variety of camellia, “thea,” has never lost its popularity. It provides us with the main ingredient for the most widely consumed beverage in the world other than water--tea. Although most of us don’t think of tea as an herb, it is also the most used plant “medicine.” The esteem the drink commands in certain countries is indicated by the fact that the Greek “thea” means “goddess.”
According to Chinese legend, an emperor named Shen Nung (“Divine Healer”), discovered tea around 2727 BC when some leaves from a camellia tree drifted down into a pot of water he was boiling. But the drink didn’t become widely popular in China until the Tang dynasty (618-907 AD). Europe, on the other hand, didn’t adopt the beverage until introduced to it by Dutch traders in the 1600’s. Known as “cha”, the Cantonese type arrived in Eastern Europe via a land route while the Fukien type known as “te” made it to Western Europe by sea.
