Morphological Studies on Five Species of Genus Camellia and Their Economical Importance in Myanmar

In Myanmar, Camellia spp. are very important role in manufacturing tea products. This research was based on the inventory of important Camellia species to fulfil the knowledge gap of Myanmar, contributing to tea landscape of Asia Programme sponsored by ICOMOS (International Council on Monuments and Sites). It was conducted from 2015 to 2018 at Department of Botany, University of Mandalay in Myanmar. Five species of genus Camellia such as Camellia irrawadiensis(Barua) F.K.Ward, Camellia drupifera Loureio, Camellia kissi Wallich, Camellia oleifrea C.Abel and Camelliasinensis(L.)Kuntze have been studied, out of eight species were reported to exist in Myanmar both of wild and cultivated ones. Among these species, Camellia sinensis(L.)Kutze was the most cultivated species whereas C. drupifera, C. irrawadiensis, C. kissi, C. olifera were naturally existing species of Myanmar. C. irrawadiensis was also found to be endemic of Myanmar species. Collection of species was done in the distributed area of Kachin State, Shan State, Chin State, Upper Sagaing Region and Mandalay Region. The characteristics of the family, the morphological characters of genera and species were described with the relevant photographs. The artificial keys to species were also described. In addition, their localities, specific altitudes of their distribution, agronomy, local processing and economically potential species were also described