Red, White, and Yellow?

The camellia blossom from Kim Yu-jeong’s novel “Camellia” is yellow. But the heroine of “Chunhui” wears a camellia flower that’s either red or white. Why’s that?

Gangwon Province, which is home to both the backdrop and writer of “Camellia,” calls the ginger tree with its golden blossoms the camellia tree. In reality, the camellia doesn’t grow in Gangwon Province.

Botanist and honorary professor at Kangwon University Lee Woo-cheol explains, “The camellia is famous for the oil from its seeds, and because it only grew below Chungcheongnam-do, people in Gangwon Province who squeezed oil from the ginger tree started to call it camellia tree because it looked similar.”

Likewise, many plants in Korea have different names according to province. “Origin of Korean Botany Vernacular” is the gem of half a century’s worth of professor Lee’s research, taking the various names and organizing them. To differentiate from the proper names and nicknames of over 10,000 plants, the book is in a dictionary form.

Professor Lee says, “In the botanical circles, many follow the 1949 ‘Joseon Plant Vernacular’ written by the Joseon plant society, or the ‘Our Country Plant Name Book’ written by editorial officer Park Man-gyu in the same year,” and added, “In my book, you can compare the two for the proper name, which I’ve written down.”

Chae-Hyun Kwon confetti@donga.com