The City of Camellias: the story behind Porto’s most famous flower
By Unknown - março 06, 2018
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| Photo: Pedro Valente Lima |
In case you
have missed it, Porto hosted its 23rd Camellia Exhibition this past weekend. But how is an Asian plant the most
emblematic flower in a Portuguese city?
Camellias
are originally from Southeast Asia, cultivated in the gardens of China and
Japan. The first signs of camellias in Europe date from the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries, in representations noted in some objects and ornaments
found in royal Portuguese and Spanish monasteries, museums and private
collections.
However, it
is thought that the flower only arrived to Portugal somewhere between 1805 and
1810, by the hands of Luís Van Zeller, who ordered camellias from England. A
2012 evaluation of a camellia tree from its property, Quinta de Santo Inácio de
Fiães , also confirmed those dates.
During the
following years, numerous enthusiasts kept the flower blooming. Camellias quickly adapted to the city's climate and it didn’t took long until Portuguese camellias started to be
registered and referenced in national and foreign catalogues. The biggest propeller
of this “golden years” was José Marques Loureiro, the “father" of horticulture
in Portugal.
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| Photo: Pedro Valente Lima |
After
thriving for more than 70 years, camellias lost the spotlight during the first
three quarters of the twentieth century, until 1984, the year of the first Porto
camellia Exhibition.
Nowadays, camellias
can be spotted in a large variety of gardens all over the city. Amongst them, one
of the most emblematic is the Jardim de S. Lázaro, where couples used to go on romantic
dates during the “golden years” of camellias. If you’re looking for a
combination of beautiful gardens and culture, Serralves also has some of the
numerous varieties of Camellias.
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