can you make tea from camillia sesanqua, a different species than the true tea plant?”
Camellia sasanqua is a species of Camellia native to the evergreen coastal forests of southern Japan in Shikoku, Kyūshū and many other minor islands as far south as Okinawa. It is usually found growing up to an altitude of 900 metres. It is an evergreen shrub growing to 5 m tall. The leaves are broad elliptic, 3-7 cm long and 1.2-3 cm broad, with a finely serrated margin. The flowers are 5-7 cm diameter, with 5-8 white to dark pink petals. At the beginning of the Edo period, cultivars of Camellia sasanqua began appearing; the first record of the cultivars of this plant was made by Ihei Ito (1695-1733). In Japan, it is not considered as to be a true Camellia as the Japanese call it Sazanka which means “the plum flowered tree”. Camellia sasanqua was not known in western societies until 1869 when Dutch traders imported some specimens into Europe. It is now also introduced to Australia and the United States. It has a long history of cultivation in Japan for practical rather than decorative
