Camellia saluenensis Stapf ex Bean

Shrubs 1-4 m tall, many branched, compact. Branches closely and densely leafy; young branches grayish brown; current year branchlets green, pubescent or glabrescent. Petiole ca. 5 mm, pubescent or glabrescent; leaf blade oblong to oblong-elliptic, 2.5-5.5 × 1-2.2 cm, rigidly leathery, abaxially pale green and villous along midvein or glabrescent, adaxially dark green, shiny, and glabrous, midvein elevated on both surfaces, secondary veins 5-7 on each side of midvein, abaxially raised, and adaxially impressed, base cuneate to rounded, margin serrulate, apex acute to obtuse. Flowers axillary or subterminal, solitary or paired, subsessile. Bracteoles and sepals 8-10, caducous after anthesis; outer bracteoles and sepals lunate to semiorbicular, 2-5 mm, increasing in size from outer to inner; inner bracteoles and sepals obovate to broadly obovate, 1.5-2 cm, outside usually glabrous or rarely puberulent, margin ciliolate. Petals 5-7, rose, pink, or white, obovate to obovate-elliptic, 2.5-4 × 1.5-3 cm, basally connate for ca. 1.5 cm, apex emarginate. Stamens 1.5-2.5 cm, glabrous; outer filament whorl basally connate for 1-1.8 cm. Ovary white tomentose, 3-loculed; style 1.5-2.5 cm, glabrous or basally tomentose, apically 3-lobed. Capsule subglobose, ca. 2.5 cm in diam., 3-loculed with 1 or 2 seeds per locule; pericarp ca. 2 mm thick, splitting into 3 valves. Seeds brown, globose to semiglobose, ca. 1 cm in diam. Fl. Jan-Mar, fr. Oct. 2n = 30*, 60*.

W Guizhou, SW Sichuan, C and W Yunnan.

● Mixed forests on mountain slopes; 1200-2800(-3200) m.

Camellia glabriperulata Hung T. Chang; C. minor Hung T. Chang; C. phaeoclada Hung T. Chang; C. pitardii var. lucidissima (H. Léveillé) Rehder; C. saluenensis f. minor Sealy; C. tenuivalvis Hung T. Chang; C. weiningensis Y. K. Li ex Hung T. Chang; Thea camellia Hoffmannsegg var. lucidissima H. Léveillé; T. pitardii (Cohen-Stuart) Rehder var. lucidissima (H. Léveillé) Rehder.

Camellia saluenensis is a species of Camellia native to south‑central China. A large bush, it is a parent of a number of garden hybrids. 'Cornish Snow' (C. cuspidata × C. saluenensis) which flowers in midwinter, and 'Inspiration' (C. reticulata × C. saluenensis) have both gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.