XLI. THEACEÆ.
Trees or shrubs, with simple alternate leaves, without stipules. Flowers perfect, regular, hypogynous; sepals and petals 5, imbricated in the bud; stamens numerous; anthers 2-celled, the cells opening longitudinally; pistil of 3—5 united carpels; ovary 3—5-celled; styles as many as the cells of the ovary, partly united. Fruit capsular; embryo with large cotyledons.
The Camellia family with eighteen genera is principally confined to the tropics of the New World and to southern and eastern Asia. Two genera are represented in the flora of the southern United States, and of these Gordonia is arborescent. Its most important genus, Camellia of eastern Asia, contains the Tea plant, Camellia Thea Link, and several species cultivated for the beauty of their flowers.