Feb 05, 2011: Fastidious camellias blossom in Botanical garden.

Sometimes comparing sources even in non-political issues reveals how unreliable is information :). Many (though not all) Russian references tell that Camellia received it`s name after priest G.J. Camellus, who was the 1<sup>st</sup> to bring the plant into Europe in XVII. A couple of clicks finds out that it`s not completely true. Jesuit brother Georg(e) Josef Kamel / Camel / Camellus did not travel much, he was sent to Phillippines by the Jesuit order and lived there until death. Linnaeus named Camellia in honouor of the remarkable botanist, that`s true. But it was Engelbert Kaempfer, a German naturalist and physician who travelled a lot and brought Japanese Camellias into Europe in 1692.

Thus, someone wanted to crumple more letters into a text, but was too lazy to understand the information, and two men became one. And such things happen all the time :).

St. Petersburg Botanical Garden

species Japanese camellia Camellia japonica