Camellias and Aspasia

A morning in the Botanical Gardens at Mount Coot Tha introduced me to the extraordinary qualities of camellias, their colours, varieties and sports – yes, nothing to do with kicking a ball or exercising. This is a new word in my lexicon to denote mutations of a patterned camellia which are genetically unstable. 

Camellias are revered flowers in Asia - that is where they come from. Introduced to the west in the 1500s by Portuguese traders but in Australia not till the early 1800s - the Macarthurs, John and Elizabeth had a lot to do with their introduction but it was their son William, a botanist who really got involved with the growing and cultivation of camellias in Camden Park in Sydney. Most of us know of the Japonicas, with broad leaves and beautiful formal double flowers, the lesser-known Sasanqua variety produce smaller but more prolific flowers and bloom for longer. We ALL know camellia sinensis because we drink it every day - it is of course tea. Here are but a few -

The Camellias are blooming at the moment in the Botanic Gardens so if you get a chance go for a walk. Enjoy bushes which show more then one colour of flower, look at the beauty of the anthers and stamens on the big flowers, admire the very delicate scent of some of the smaller flowers, as they are rarely scented. For me the best part of this morning was making the acquaintance of Aspasia Macarthur. It is the first significant Australian camellia and one of the most enduring.

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This immediately spiked my curiosity. It’s a Greek name and one of my nieces is called Aspasia. I wondered who in the Macarthur family was called Aspasia but it turns out that William loved Greek History and Mythology and named a lot of his flowers after ancient Greek goddesses and characters. Aspasia is the first Australian camellia and in later years was combined with the name Macarthur to differentiate it from a European Aspasia. So this blog is dedicated to my niece Aspasia, her namesake camellia and the Ancient Greek world to remind us of the beauty they bring to the world.