Camellia Oleifera
''Camellia oleifera'', which originated in China, is notable as an important source of edible oil (known as tea oil or camellia oil) obtained from its seeds. It is commonly known as the oil-seed camellia or tea oil camellia, though to a lesser extent other species of ''camellia'' are used in oil production too. It is widely distributed in China and is cultivated extensively there. It is found in forests, thickets, banks of streams and foothills at elevations of 500 to 1,300 metres. This species looks much similar to ''Camellia sasanqua'' except the dark green, evergreen leaves are a bit larger, three to five inches long and two to three inches wide. Single, white, fragrant flowers are produced in mid to late fall, and this large shrub or small tree will reach a height of 20 feet with thin, upright, multiple trunks and branches. The crown forms a rounded or oval vase with lower branches removed. Uses The seeds of ''Camellia oleifera'' can be pressed to yield tea seed oil, a swe ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Clarke Abel
Clarke Abel (5 September 1780 – 24 November 1826) was a British surgeon and naturalist. He accompanied Lord Amherst on his mission to China in 1816-17 as the embassy's chief medical officer and naturalist, on the recommendation of Sir Joseph Banks. The mission was Britain's second unsuccessful attempt to establish diplomatic relations with China and involved travelling to the Beijing and the famous botanical gardens of Fa Tee (Huadi) near Canton (Fangcun District). While in China, Abel collected specimens and seeds of the plant that carries his name, '' Abelia chinensis'', described by Banks' botanical secretary Robert Brown, "with friendly partiality". However a shipwreck and an attack by pirates on the way back to his home in Britain caused him to lose all of his specimens. Abel's ''Narrative of a Journey in the Interior of China'', 1818, gives a detailed account of the collection's misfortunes. However, he had left some specimens with Sir George Staunton at Canton, who ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Tea Oil
Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of '' Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of southwestern China and northern Myanmar. Tea is also rarely made from the leaves of ''Camellia taliensis''. After plain water, tea is the most widely consumed drink in the world. There are many different types of tea; some have a cooling, slightly bitter, and astringent flavour, while others have vastly different profiles that include sweet, nutty, floral, or grassy notes. Tea has a stimulating effect in humans primarily due to its caffeine content. An early credible record of tea drinking dates to the third century AD, in a medical text written by Chinese physician Hua Tuo. It was popularised as a recreational drink during the Chinese Tang dynasty, and tea drinking subsequently spread to other East Asian countries. Portuguese priests and merchants introduced it to ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Camellia
''Camellia'' (pronounced or ) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Theaceae. They are found in eastern and southern Asia, from the Himalayas east to Japan and Indonesia. There are more than 220 described species, with some controversy over the exact number, and also around 3,000 hybrids. The genus was named by Linnaeus after the Jesuit botanist Georg Joseph Kamel, who worked in the Philippines and described a species of camellia (although Linnaeus did not refer to Kamel's account when discussing the genus). Of economic importance in East Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Indian subcontinent, leaves of '' C. sinensis'' are processed to create the popular beverage tea. The ornamental '' C. japonica'', '' C. sasanqua'' and their hybrids are the source of hundreds of garden cultivars. '' C. oleifera'' produces tea seed oil, used in cooking and cosmetics. Descriptions Camellias are evergreen shrubs or small trees up to tall. Their leaves are alternately arranged, simple, t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Forest
A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) defines a forest as, "Land spanning more than 0.5 hectares with trees higher than 5 meters and a canopy cover of more than 10 percent, or trees able to reach these thresholds ''in situ''. It does not include land that is predominantly under agricultural or urban use." Using this definition, '' Global Forest Resources Assessment 2020'' (FRA 2020) found that forests covered , or approximately 31 percent of the world's land area in 2020. Forests are the predominant terrestrial ecosystem of Earth, and are found around the globe. More than half of the world's forests are found in only five countries (Brazil, Canada, China, Russia, and the United States). The largest share of forests (45 percent) are in th ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Camellia Sasanqua
''Camellia sasanqua'', with common name sasanqua camellia, is a species of ''Camellia'' native to China and Japan. It is usually found growing up to an altitude of 900 metres. It is an evergreen shrub growing to 5 m tall. The leaves are broad elliptic, 3–7 cm long and 1.2–3 cm broad, with a finely serrated margin. The flowers are 5–7 cm diameter, with 5–8 white to dark pink petals. History and uses At the beginning of the Edo period, cultivars of ''Camellia sasanqua'' began appearing; the first record of the cultivars of this plant was made by Ihei Ito (1695–1733). In Japan, it is not considered to be a true Camellia as the Japanese call it Sazanka (, ). ''Camellia sasanqua'' was not known in western societies until in 1820 Captain Richard Rawes of the East Indiaman ''Warren Hastings'' brought ''Camellia sasanqua'' var. ''stricata'' to his relation, Thomas Carey Palmer, of Bromley in Kent. Then in 1869, Dutch traders imported some specimens int ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Tea Seed Oil
Tea seed oil (also known as ''camellia oil'', ''camellia seed oil'', ''teanut oil'') is an edible plant oil. It is obtained from the seeds of ''Camellia oleifera''. ''Camellia sasanqua'' is also given as a source of 'tea seed oil. Description The genus Camellia includes several commercially important species - ''Camellia oleifera'' is grown mainly in China for vegetable oil. The oil is known as 'camellia oil', 'tea seed oil', or 'camellia seed oil'. As of 2016 of ''oleifera'' forest centered on the Yangtze river basin in Hunan, Jiangxi, and Guangxi produces 0.26 million tons of oil. Wild ''Camellia oleifera'' contains ~47% oil, whilst cultivated varieties have shown oil content from 42 to 53%. Oil analysis of cultivated varieties showed : ~76-82% oleic acid; 5-11% linoleic acid; 7.5-10% palmitic acid; 1.5-3% stearic acid - the ratios are similar to that found in wild ''oleifera''. The composition is similar to that of Olive oil. Another analysis of several cultivars found : 82-8 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Oleic Acid
Oleic acid is a fatty acid that occurs naturally in various animal and vegetable fats and oils. It is an odorless, colorless oil, although commercial samples may be yellowish. In chemical terms, oleic acid is classified as a monounsaturated omega-9 fatty acid, abbreviated with a lipid number of 18:1 ''cis''-9, and a main product of Δ9 desaturase. It has the formula CH3(CH2)7CH=CH(CH2)7COOH. The name derives from the Latin word ''oleum'', which means oil. It is the most common fatty acid in nature. The salts and esters of oleic acid are called oleates. Occurrence Fatty acids (or their salts) often do not occur as such in biological systems. Instead fatty acids such as oleic acid occur as their esters, commonly triglycerides, which are the greasy materials in many natural oils. Oleic acid is the most common monounsaturated fatty acid in nature. It is found in fats (triglycerides), the phospholipids that make membranes, cholesterol esters, and wax esters. Triglycerides of oleic ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Olive Oil
Olive oil is a liquid fat obtained from olives (the fruit of ''Olea europaea''; family Oleaceae), a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin, produced by pressing whole olives and extracting the oil. It is commonly used in cooking: for frying foods or as a salad dressing. It can be found in some cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, soaps, and fuels for traditional oil lamps. It also has additional uses in some religions. The olive is one of three core food plants in Mediterranean cuisine; the other two are wheat and grapes. Olive trees have been grown around the Mediterranean since the 8th millennium BC. In 2019–2020, world production of olive oil was . Spain was the largest producer followed by Italy, Tunisia, Greece, Turkey and Morocco. San Marino has by far the largest per capita consumption of olive oil worldwide. The composition of olive oil varies with the cultivar, altitude, time of harvest, and extraction process. It consists mainly of oleic acid (up to 83%), with ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Soap Making
Soap is a salt of a fatty acid used in a variety of cleansing and lubricating products. In a domestic setting, soaps are surfactants usually used for washing, bathing, and other types of housekeeping. In industrial settings, soaps are used as thickeners, components of some lubricants, and precursors to catalysts. When used for cleaning, soap solubilizes particles and grime, which can then be separated from the article being cleaned. In hand washing, as a surfactant, when lathered with a little water, soap kills microorganisms by disorganizing their membrane lipid bilayer and denaturing their proteins. It also emulsifies oils, enabling them to be carried away by running water. Soap is created by mixing fats and oils with a base. A similar process is used for making detergent which is also created by combining chemical compounds in a mixer. Humans have used soap for millennia. Evidence exists for the production of soap-like materials in ancient Babylon around 2800 BC. T ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Oil Lamp
An oil lamp is a lamp used to produce light continuously for a period of time using an oil-based fuel source. The use of oil lamps began thousands of years ago and continues to this day, although their use is less common in modern times. They work in the same way as a candle but with fuel that is liquid at room temperature, so that a container for the oil is required. A textile wick drops down into the oil, and is lit at the end, burning the oil as it is drawn up the wick. Oil lamps are a form of lighting, and were used as an alternative to candles before the use of electric lights. Starting in 1780, the Argand lamp quickly replaced other oil lamps still in their basic ancient form. These in turn were replaced by the kerosene lamp in about 1850. In small towns and rural areas the latter continued in use well into the 20th century, until such areas were finally electrified and light bulbs could be used. Sources of fuel for oil lamps include a wide variety of plants such as n ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Tea Tree Oil
Tea tree oil, also known as melaleuca oil, is an essential oil with a fresh camphoraceous odor and a colour that ranges from pale yellow to nearly colourless and clear. It is derived from the leaves of the tea tree, ''Melaleuca alternifolia'', native to southeast Queensland and the northeast coast of New South Wales, Australia. The oil comprises many constituent chemicals and its composition changes if it is exposed to air and oxidizes. Commercial use of tea tree oil began in the 1920s, pioneered by the entrepreneur Arthur Penfold. the global tea tree oil market was valued at US$39 million. As a traditional medicine, it is typically used as a topical medication in low concentrations for the treatment of skin conditions, but there is little evidence of efficacy. Tea tree oil is claimed as useful for treating dandruff, acne, lice, herpes, insect bites, scabies, and skin fungal or bacterial infections. However, there is not enough evidence to support any of these claims due to ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Melaleuca Alternifolia
''Melaleuca alternifolia'', commonly known as tea tree, is a species of tree or tall shrub in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Endemic to Australia, it occurs in southeast Queensland and the north coast and adjacent ranges of New South Wales where it grows along streams and on swampy flats, and is often the dominant species where it occurs. Description ''Melaleuca alternifolia'' is a small tree that can grow to about with a bushy crown and whitish, papery bark. The leaves are arranged alternately, sometimes scattered or whorled. The leaves are smooth, soft, linear in shape, long and wide. They are also rich in oil with the glands prominent. Flowers occur in white or cream-colored masses of spikes long over a short period, mostly spring to early summer, and give the tree an appearance of looking fluffy. The small woody, cup-shaped fruit, in diameter are scattered along the branches. Taxonomy and naming This species was first formally described in 1905 by Joseph Maiden and ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |