The camellia, often called the Queen of winter flowers, is Alabama’s state flower. Originally from the Orient, it reached Europe in the 1600s, then America and Australia in the 1700s, and now flourishes in the southern U.S. and in California. Camellia enthusiasts increased the number of named cultivars from a few hundred in the eighteenth century to over 32,000 in the twenty-first, and cold-hardy cultivars are now being developed and grown outdoors in the northeast U.S. Camellias offer many types of bloom, and although most do not have a perfume, an increasing number of fragrant cultivars are available. The plant can live for over 100 years, and many older plants along the Alabama Gulf Coast have successfully survived hurricanes.