camellia
UK[kəˈmiːliə]US[kəˈmiːliə]
n
a shrub with glossy evergreen leaves and showy white, pink, or red flowers, native to eastern and southern Asia.
Etymology
the word 'camellia' is a modern latin genus name, coined by the swedish botanist carl linnaeus in honor of the jesuit missionary and botanist georg josef kamel (latinized as 'camellus'). kamel worked in the philippines in the 17th century and described local flora, though ironically not the camellia plant itself, which is native further north. the name was applied to the flowering shrub by linnaeus, establishing a tradition of naming plants after notable figures. thus, the term's journey is not one of semantic evolution from ancient roots, but a direct taxonomic borrowing that entered common english usage to denote the ornamental plant.
Analysis
the word is a simplex loanword adopted as a whole unit. it does not contain productive morphemes in english that can be meaningfully segmented from its current spelling.
Examples
the garden was famous for its collection of rare pink camellias.
she wore a single white camellia in her hair for the wedding.
camellia sinensis is the plant species whose leaves are used to produce tea.