Camellia

Camellia is a flower name taken from the botanical genus of glossy evergreen shrubs with showy blooms. The genus commemorates Georg Josef Kamel, a Moravian Jesuit pharmacist and botanical observer. Its history therefore combines a garden association with a real person’s surname, rather than a literal ancient word for beauty or perfection.

Camellias can flower in white, pink, and red, bringing a richer range of imagery than one particular color. The name also has a literary connection through Alexandre Dumas’s The Lady of the Camellias, the story behind the opera La Traviata. Camelia is a closely related spelling, while the doubled l preserves the familiar English flower word.