Camellia fruits

Okay, I volunteered to do three walks through the Asian Collections this spring. One in early March, one early April, and I think the last in late April. There will be 8 weeks between the first and the last so that we'll see the barest beginnings and progress in two jumps to full blown spring. That's not the point though. I was at the computer today thinking about these walks and what to say about them when another one popped into my head. It doesn't rain but it pours. Next fall I'll do a walk highlighting the edible plants in the collection. We do have some interesting specimens: Jujube; Asian persimmons; Hovenia, the Raisin tree; Pseudocydonia, the huge fruited tree quince; a few species of sweet Chestnuts; and so forth. It'll be fun to trek through the collections in the fall with a theme to keep us in line.

Here's where the camellias come in; I was thumbing through Wilson's travels, the chapter on fruits and I wandered over into economic plants and there were the oil trees. I love the greasy fruits of sapindus, but they're too far to get to easily, the Tung Oil tree succumbed to the elements in its second winter, but we have camellias! So I went out and had a look.