Camellia yunnanensis Cohen-Stuart

Shrubs or trees, 1-5(-7.5) m tall. Young branches rusty to grayish brown; year-old branchlets purplish brown; current year branchlets pale brown, pubescent to villous. Petiole 2-5 mm, pubescent to villous; leaf blade ovate, ovate-elliptic, elliptic, long ovate, or ovate-lanceolate, 4-6.5(-11.5) × 1.5-3.5(-4.5) cm, thinly leathery, abaxially pale green and sparsely villous or only villous along midvein, adaxially dark green and hirtellous along midvein, midvein reddish, abaxially elevated, and adaxially slightly raised, secondary veins 5-9 on each side of midvein and raised on both surfaces or adaxially obscure, base broadly cuneate, rounded, or truncate, margin serrulate, apex acute, shortly acuminate, or caudate. Flowers axillary or subterminal, solitary, 3-5 cm in diam., subsessile. Bracteoles and sepals 9-11, ± persistent after anthesis, green to brown, ovate to suborbicular, 2-12 mm, concave, leathery, outside glabrous, inside white finely sericeous, margin broadly scarious. Petals 7-12, white, broadly obovate to elliptic, 2-4(-5.3) × 1.5-3 cm; inner petals connate for 2-6 mm. Stamens 1.5-2.5 cm, glabrous; outer filament whorl basally connate for 2-5 mm. Ovary discoid, ca. 1 × 3-3.5 mm, glabrous or ± pilose to tomentose, (3-)5-loculed, apically slightly (3-)5-lobed; styles (3-)5, distinct, ca. 1.5 cm. Capsule purplish red but becoming purplish brown when dry, globose to oblate, 4-6 cm in diam., (3-)5-loculed with 2 or 3 seeds per locule, apex with 5 conic lobes, 5 valves dehiscent; pericarp ca. 1 cm thick and fleshy when fresh, 1-5 mm thick when dry. Seeds brown, globose to semiglobose, 1-1.6 cm in diam., rufous pilose or glabrescent. Fl. Nov-Mar, fr. Aug-Oct. 2n = 30*.

SW Guizhou, SW Sichuan, Yunnan.

● Forests, thickets; (800-)1100-3200 m.