two smaller ribs; and its seeds are ovate, and un- 
margined, with flat and incumbent cotyledons. 
It is an oleiferous plant; grows better on light 
and shallow soils than any other cruciferous oil- 
plant; and rushes so rapidly to maturity as to 
yield two crops a-year in the south of Europe. 
The oil produced by it is nearly inodorous, and 
gives a brighter flame, with less smoke, than the 
oilofrapeor of mustard. Thestemsalsoare fibrous, 
tough, hard, and durable, and are used for thatch- 
| ing, for temporary buildings, and for making 
brooms, sack-cloth, sail-cloth, and packing-paper. 
This plant is cultivated in Holland, Belgium, Ger- 
many, the north of France, and some adjacent 
districts, and is found very serviceable for sowing 
_ in June or early in July, after other and more 
valuable crops have failed ; and, though hitherto 
_ neglected in Britain, would no doubt perfectly 
succeed with us, under any ordinary cultivation ; 
and it possesses the advantage of being unassailed 
by the aphides, which often make such havoc 
upon rape and other brassica crops. In Belgium, 
it is sown after a failure of rape, colsa, or any 
similar crop; the ground for it is ploughed and 
harrowed ; the seed is sown at the rate of two 
pounds per acre, in mixture with ashes or fine 
| sand, to promote its equal distribution; and a 
sufficient covering is effected by the bush-harrow 
or traineau. ‘Two well-established varieties, the 
smooth and the pilose, are also cultivated; and 
either one of these or some other, under the name 
| of Le Cameline Majeur, of stronger growth and 
ereater oleiferousness than the normal kind, has 
recently obtained much favour among the farmers 
of the north of France. Five other species of 
| Camelina,—three annual and two perennial and 
evergreen—have been introduced to Britain ; but 
they possess little or no interest. 
CAMELLIA. A genus of superbly beautiful, 
evergreen shrubs, forming the type of the natural 
order Camellieze. This order comprises only the 
genera camellia and thea; but it ought also to 
comprise eurya, lettsomia, gordonia, stuartia, and 
the other seven genera which are usually assigned 
to the order Ternstroemiaceze. The two species 
of tea plant, green and bohea, are so closely allied 
to camellia that they were formerly included in 
the genus, just as they are now included in the 
order; and they unite with the true camellias to 
render this the most celebrated group of plants 
in modern times,—the tea-plants for the delicious 
beverage afforded by their dried leaves, and the 
true camellias for the surpassing elegance of their 
form and foliage, and the exquisite delicacy, 
| shape, and tinting of their flowers. 
The name Camellia was given to the genus, in 
honour of George Joseph Kamel or Camellus, a 
jesuit who made some contribution to the syste- 
|| matic botany of the Indian archipelago. The 
_ common species, Camellia Japonica, is a native of 
_ China and Japan, and was introduced to Great 
| Britain from the former of these countries in 
_ 1739. It appears to have been long cultivated 
CAMELLIA. 
and highly admired by both the Chinese and the 
Japanese; it figures, in common with hibiscus 
and chrysanthemum, in a large proportion of 
Chinese paintings ; it abounds in the gardens and 
groves of both China and Japan, not only as a 
beauteous shrub, but as a superb and soaring 
tree; and it has been so carefully and scientifi- 
cally managed by the Chinese, as to exist among 
them in a great number of perfectly distinct and 
permanent varieties. When this magnificent 
plant was introduced to Britain, impassioned ad- 
miration of its handsome form, its shining deep 
green foliage, and its splendid white and red 
flowers, was immediately and extensively excited, 
a demand for specimens of it at almost any price 
was created, and a search for new varieties of it, 
at even exorbitant costs, was provoked and en- 
couraged. Not fewer than between thirty and 
forty distinct varieties were imported from China, 
without any abatement in the popular passion 
for the plant being experienced; hybrids and 
British seedlings began at length to be produced, 
with little other effect than to increase the plant’s 
popularity ; and though hundreds upon hundreds 
of British, French, Italian, Belgian, Dutch, and 
German hybrids have been eventually brought 
out, till the whole subject of the camellia has be-. 
come a labyrinth, and fully two-thirds of the 
known kinds are unworthy of cultivation, the 
passion for the plant has only become correspond- 
ingly extended and refined, without being in any 
degree diluted or vulgarized. 
The common camellia, in by far the greater 
number of its varieties, attains in Britain a 
height of about ten feet, blooms from February 
till May, and is cultivated solely for the sake of 
its ornamental appearance.—The Sasanqua camel- 
lia, C. Sasanqua, was introduced from China in 
1811, usually grows to the height of about four | 
feet, carries a white flower from February till 
November, and is exceedingly inferior to the 
common camellia in ornamental character. Yet it 
somewhat readily goes to seed, and has been very | 
generally employed by Huropean growers as the 
female parent for producing new varieties. Hy- 
brid seedlings between the Sasanqua and the 
common camellia may be brought to flower in 
four or five years; and all such as produce in- 
ferior flowers can be used as excellent stocks for 
the inarching or grafting of some of the noblest 
existing varieties. Both the blossoms and the 
buds of the Sasanqua appear to be gathered by the 
Chinese for the composition of superior kinds of 
teas; and its leaves also are employed by them 
in mixture with the boheas,—rather, however, 
in adulteration than in improvement. ‘Three 
varieties of the Sasanqua were introduced from 
China previous to the year 1825; the double red, 
with pink flowers; the double white, with white 
flowers; and the semidouble white, a very beau- 
tiful plant, with white flowers.—The oleiferous 
species, C. oleifera, was introduced from China in 
1819, and usually grows to the height of about 
