also: さんちゃ
common camellia; Camellia japonica
Only with reading つばき / ツバキ
Refers to the Japanese/common camellia, a flowering evergreen often associated with winter or early spring. 椿 is the normal written form; ツバキ is also seen for the plant name.
庭の椿が赤い花を咲かせた。
The camellia in the garden bloomed with red flowers.
ツバキの油は髪の手入れに使われる。
Camellia oil is used for hair care.
tea produced in the mountains
Only when written 山茶 · Only with reading さんちゃ
Archaic noun read さんちゃ and written 山茶. This is a separate old use meaning tea produced in mountainous areas, not the ordinary plant name 椿.
古い文献では、「山茶」が山で作られた茶を指すことがある。
In old texts, 山茶 (sancha) can refer to tea produced in the mountains.
I planted a camellia tree in the garden.
The camellia blossom dropped to the ground all at once.
椿 read as さんちゃ is an archaic, specific term for tea grown in mountain regions, whereas 茶 is the plain, everyday word for tea in general.
椿 is the everyday Japanese word for the camellia flower, while ジャポニカ is the scientific Latin-derived name used mainly in botanical contexts.
椿 and 山茶花 are both winter-blooming camellia-family shrubs, but 椿 flowers drop as a whole intact bloom while 山茶花 petals scatter separately as they fall.
Use 本 for camellias still attached to a branch or stem.
Used when counting 椿 (camellia) as a planted shrub or tree.
camellia oil; tea seed oil
Japanese stewartia; Stewartia pseudocamellia
Chinese guger tree; Schima wallichii · sasanqua; Camellia sasanqua · Japanese privet; Ligustrum japonicum
Standard and common kanji spelling for the camellia plant.
Katakana spelling is practical for plant names, especially in botanical or labeling contexts; it is explicitly given as a no-kanji reading.
Rare attested spelling for camellia; mainly useful for recognition rather than ordinary writing.
Rare attested spelling for camellia; 椿 is the normal modern spelling.
Archaic reading and meaning, distinct from 椿 read つばき.
The historical derivation of つばき is uncertain. 椿 is the standard conventional kanji for the camellia; 山茶 and 海石榴 are rare attested written forms, while 山茶 read さんちゃ transparently matches the archaic sense 'mountain tea.'
winter camellia; Camellia sasanqua
mountain camellia; sasanqua