Camellia lutchuensis Quintessence

Camellia ‘Quintessence’ is a wild camellia that forms a small bush with a naturally low and spreading habit, very floriferous in late winter: its white corollas, sometimes tinged with pale pink, emit a delicious musky fragrance. Its flexible silhouette and slow growth work well in a pot, at the front of borders or edging a light woodland. Wild camellia thrives in moist, humid climates, in non-calcareous, humus-bearing, well-drained soil.

From the Theaceae family, ‘Quintessence’ is a cross-breeding between Camellia japonica and Camellia lutchuensis; it was obtained in New Zealand by J. C. Lesnie in the 1980s. The very fragrant parent species C. lutchuensis is native to the Loo-Choo islands, today Ryūkyū (Okinawa), located southwest of the Japanese archipelago. 
'Quintessence' has a spreading, even slightly trailing habit, with fine, flexible stems and slow growth. The bush reaches between 50 cm and 1 m in height with a spread of 70 cm to 1.50 m at maturity. In a pot, it remains between 40 and 60 cm tall. The evergreen foliage consists of small to medium, ovate, leathery, dark green and glossy leaves. The semi-double flowers are small (3–4 cm in diameter), white to cream, pink-edged, and bloom from February to April. At the centre of the corollas, the clearly visible straw-yellow stamens emit a pronounced musky fragrance. The hardiness generally observed for this variety is around −12 to −14 °C.

Place Camellia ‘Quintessence’ at the front of an acidic soil border, as a groundcover under Japanese maples or deciduous magnolias, at the edge of a low wall or in a large container on a slightly shaded terrace; its flexible silhouette trails prettily in a shady rockery. Pair it with evergreen bushes that highlight its white flowers: Leucothoe keiskei 'Burning Love' with its purplish young leaves, Sarcococca hookeriana humilis with its fragrant winter flowering, Nandina 'Blush Pink' for its year-round colourful foliage. Combine it with other compact and fragrant varieties like the wild Camellias ‘Fairy Blush’ or ‘Cinnamon Cindy’. In a pot, use a substrate for acid-loving plants and water regularly with non-calcareous water.

The name Camellia was given to the plant in 1735 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Von Linné, in homage to Georg Josef Kamel (Latinised to "Camellus"), an apothecary in the service of the Jesuits in the Philippines at the end of the 17th century. It would be 1792 before the Camellia arrived in Europe.