Pink Mermaid Camellia. When first importing Camellia japonica quercifolia 'White Mermaid' from China, one plant in the lot of a couple of hundred rooted cuttings flowered pink. So we planted this one at our retail location and have been taking cuttings from this plant to be able to introduce this cultivar. The flower is a 4-5" semi-double with yellow stamens, but the characteristic of greatest interest is the flared "fish tail" end to each leaf. This is a real conversation piece. But the older the plant gets, more and more leaves have the fishtail characteristic replaced with an unusual trumpet-like appendage which protrudes from the midrib of the leaf. One can see this from several of the photos. The plant itself has great form and vigor with a good dark green color. We are rendering the name "quercifolia" as we received the plant from China so we don't know of the validity of this name. "Quercifolia" means "oak leaf," which it really does not resemble.
Zones 7-9
