The genus Camellia is native to East Asia and includes a very large number (>200) of species. Notable among them are C. japonica, C. sinensis, C. sasanqua, C. reticulata and C. oleifera. The Japanese camellia tree (C. japonica) is native to Southern Japan where it is called Rose of Winter. Camellia sasanqua (Christmas Camellia) is a Camellia species native to China and Japan. Although Camellia is known worldwide for the production of tea, there is a growing industry that uses the oil derived from camellia seeds. Camellia oil, extracted from a number of different species including C. japonica, C. reticulata, C. sinensis and C. oleifera, has long been processed as industrial oil, for the production of medicines, cosmetics, soaps, and recently it is generating interest as a biofuel source (Lin and Fan, 2011). Camellia tea seeds have been utilized in China for more than a thousand years as an oil source. Tea oil is the main cooking oil in China’s southern provinces and Southeast Asia. Camellia oil is considered a high quality cooking oil, with high amounts of unsaturated fatty acids, mainly oleic and linoleic acids. This oil, called the Eastern olive oil by Long and Wang (2008) because it contains abundant oleic acid like olive oil, can be stored at room temperature. In addition to this, camellia oil is reputed to aid cholesterol reduction and resistance to stress (Fu & Zhou, 2003) and to protect against lipid peroxidation by elevating the expression of antioxidant enzymes (Lee et al. 2007). Camellia japonica oil has a long history of use as a cosmetic product to keep skin and hair healthy, with antibacterial activity and with anti-inflammatory properties (Kim et al. 2001, Kim et al. 2012). Also the antioxidant and antimicrobial features of virgin C. oleifera, C. reticulata and C. sasanqua oils have recently been demonstrated (Feas et al. 2013). The high oil content, (>30%) of Camellia seeds can vary depending on genetic and environmental factors (species, cultivars, temperature, rainfall, etc). Furthermore, fruit traits such as seed size and dry weight affect oil production in Camellia species (Li et al., 1992; Yanru and Zhangju, 2010, Huang et al. 2013). Galicia (NW Spain) is one of the most important Camellia producing-regions in Europe. Although camellias in Galicia are produced mainly as houseplants and for gardening purposes, recently interest has arisen in relation to the production of oil as a new market opportunity. The aims of this work were: a) to study the chemical composition of seeds from different Camellia species grown in a live Camellia germplasm collection maintained at the Estacion Fitopatoloxica do Areeiro, in NW Spain, and b) to characterize the fatty acid composition of cold-pressed oil samples from different Camellia species produced at the E.F. do Areeiro.

Trabajo presentado en el International Camellia Congress, celebrado en Pontevedra del 11 al 16 de marzo de 2014

Peer Reviewed