TEA OIL
Camellia oleifera 
[kuh-MEE-lee-a  oh-lee-IF-er-uh]

Family: Theaceae

Names: tea oil camellia

Description: A small tree with cinnamon bark 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 late winter, 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.

Cultivation: Prefers a woodland soil but thrives in a warm open well-drained loam if leafmold is added. A calcifuge plant, preferring a pH between 5 and 7. Prefers the partial shade of a light woodland. This plant tolerates temperatures down to between 14 and 23°F.   Prefers a wet summer and a cool but not very frosty dry winter. Plants are not very self-compatible, self-fertilized flowers produce few seeds and these are of low viability. The seed can be sown as soon as it is ripe in a greenhouse. Stored seed should be pre-soaked for 24 hours in warm water and the hard covering around the micropyle should be filed down to leave a thin covering. It usually germinates in 1 - 3 months at 73°F. Prick out the seedlings into individual pots when they are large enough to handle and grow them on in light shade in the greenhouse for at least their first winter. Plant them out into their permanent positions when they are more than 15cm tall and give them some protection from winter cold for their first year or three outdoors.  Cuttings of almost ripe wood, 10 - 15cm with a heel, August/September in a shaded frame. High percentage but slow.  Cuttings of firm wood, 7 - 10cm with a heel, end of June in a frame. Keep in a cool greenhouse for the first year.  Leaf-bud cuttings, July/August in a frame.

Properties: Anthelmintic

Constituents: The tea oil contents about 80% oleic acids, 8% linoleic acid, 9% palmitic acid, and 1% stearic acid. Its content in mono-unsaturated fatty acids is 83%, slightly better than olive oil

Medicinal Uses:  The oil's properties include prevention of diabetes, high blood pressure and coronary diseases, and it has antioxidant traits which are known to assist the body in preventing cancer. The Camellia oil is also used to support the health of skin, hair, and nails since many thousand years.The seed oil can be used as treatment of ringworm. The triterpenoid saponin from camellia has been shown to improve immune function, enhance antibacterial and antiviral activities, and to have antimutation and antioxidation properties in humans and animals.

Cosmetic Uses: Camellia oil has been proven to have its place in all emulsions used in the cosmetology and dermopharmacy fields. Uses include day or night creams, anti-wrinkle compounds, lipstick, hair creams, make-up, anti-sun preparations, rouge, and make-up remover products. Extraction of the fruit hulls also yields useful compounds such as saponin, tannin, and pentosan.

Culinary Uses:   The seeds of Camellia oleifera can be pressed to yield tea oil, a sweetish seasoning and cooking oil.  Tea oil camellia is commonly over 80% monosaturated fat.  As such, it reduces LDL (bad cholesterol). Tea Oil is also known as Tea Seed Oil.  Tea oil has an extremely high smoke point (486 °F), as compared to other oils. It is the main cooking oil in the southern provinces of China—roughly one-seventh of the country's population. In Japan tea oil is derived from Camellia japonica, mainly from Goto Islands of Nagasaki Prefecture and Izu Islands of Tokyo Prefecture. Tea seed oil resembles olive oil and grape seed oil in its excellent storage qualities and low content of saturated fat.  Monounsaturated oleic acid may comprise up to 88% of the fatty acids. It is high in vitamin E and other antioxidants and low in trans fat.  In addition to its use in salad dressings, dips, marinades and sauces, for sautéing, stir frying and frying and in margarine production.

Other Uses: The oil obtained from the seed is used in textile manufacture, soap making and as an illuminant. The oil consists mainly of olein. It is not subject to polymerize or oxidize, nor does it form solids at low temperatures.  A grey dye is obtained from the pink or red petals. The seed cake has insecticidal activity.  Camellia oil is also traditionally used to protect Japanese woodworking tools and cutlery from corrosion and is currently sold for that purpose.  Extracts from the residues of tea oil processing have also been used to feed livestock and are used to formulate pesticides, feeds, and fertilizers. Japanese tea seed oil is used for setting the hair of Sumo wrestlers and for tempura.  Tea oil residues have been used for effective control of the following pests: rice blast, sheath and culm blight of rice, wheat rust, rice hopper, cutworms, cotton aphids, certain scale insects, long-horned beetles, and leeches. Extracts of the seed cake left over after processing are known to deter larval development in insects.

 

 

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