Izu Oshima has another special attraction: the camellia park. The whole park has an area of 327 hectares, including the camellia garden, a small zoo and a campground known as Umi no Furusato Mura, situated close to the Goze River, all managed by the Tokyo Parks Department.

Camellias were originally grown on Oshima for the oil that is pressed from the seed. Wild camellias (yabu-tsubaki, Camellia japonica) grow naturally on this island; to create camellia woodlands, the farmers felled all the other trees. This was done on a local scale on all the Izu islands. Close to the port of Okada there is a small camellia oil factory which is still in operation, but if you go by tour bus you may not see these old factories.

Every part of the camellia plant has some use: A dye is extracted from the leaves; from the wood, small implements and delicate furniture were made, and it also yields excellent charcoal. The most important product, though, was the oil. It was used as a fuel and as a fertilizer, but especially as hair oil.

Camellias grow in China, Thailand, Indonesia and western Philippines. The natural range of C. japonica covers all Japan, except Hokkaido. Yuki-tsubaki (C. japonica var. decumbens) grows in high snowfall areas along the Japan Sea side of Japan from Fukui to Aomori.

The camellia garden proper covers 7 hectares, with a collection comprising over 3,700 camellia plants of 450 species and cultivars. If the wild camellias are included then there must be 5,000 camellias in this garden.

The garden is situated on the eastern coast of the island (Ura- Oshima). Immediately above it the steep rocky slopes are covered with tall evergreen Japanese chinquapin trees (sudajii, Castanopsis cuspidata var. Sieboldii). Luckily neither the chinquapin woods nor the camellia garden were affected by the November 1986 eruption of Mount Mihara.

The camellias are maintained to a very high standard, classified according to their flowering time and carefully labeled. The sasanqua (Camellia sasanqua) are among the first to flower, in November; the different species continue blooming through the end of March. February-March is about the best time to visit the garden.

A greenhouse houses those camellia species that are just too tender to survive outside even on Izu- Oshima, most of them from southern China, which has a semitropical climate. Camellia yuhensienensis from China was covered with large white heart-shaped petals during my February visit, and, nearby, Camellia scentuosus breathed fragrance from its pink double flowers. The yellow camellia (ki-tsubaki, Camellia chrysantha) from southern China grows and flowers freely in the greenhouse. Its leaves are 11-17 cm long, like larger versions of the tea camellia leaves (C. sinensis).

The garden started in 1940 when 100 cultivars of yabu-tsubaki were brought to the island from Angyo, Kawaguchi City, in Saitama Prefecture. From 1957 it started propagating its own camellias. The collection features mainly Kanto cultivars (Kanto-kei), some of which date back to the Edo Period when the horticulture trade flourished. Among the Kanto-kei camellias the Akashigata strain are numerous.

Apart from camellias, the garden has a good collection of palm trees (yashi), including the common Canary Island palm (Phoenix canariensis), Butia yatai, which has a slender trunk and comes from South America, the small dwarf palmetto (Sabal minor), whose stout trunk only grows to 3 meters, and the rough-trunked cabbage palmetto (Sabal palmetto) grows to 30 meters. The genus Sabal includes 14 species, ranging from Bermuda through the U.S. gulf states to Mexico.

Another South American palm is the queen palm (Syragrus romanzoffiana), with pinnate leaves 3-5 meters long and a trunk up to 20 meters in its native habitat.

The zoo located a few hundred meters beyond the camellia garden contains some 540 animals, none of them dangerous -- a good zoo for children. Bactrian camels from China (futakobu-rakuda, Camelus bactrianus), Taiwan monkeys (Macaca fascicularia) from mangrove forests of eastern Asia, Taiwan squirrels (haibura-taiwan-risu, Calloscirus flavimanus thaiwanensis) and peacocks (kujaku) can be seen. The Taiwan squirrel was first introduced to Izu Oshima and Japan in 1935. The monkeys and squirrels and to a lesser extent the peacocks have escaped the confines of the zoo in search of more freedom. You can see them all over the island.

The Japanese serow (kamoshika, Capricnis crispus) and the white-tailed sea eagle (ojiro-washi, Haliaetus albicilla) can also be seen. The sea eagle is a common winter visitor to northern Japan.

The park's seaside nature trail stretches 5.5 km, starting at a place called Nihonmatsu (close to Okada ferry port). It takes its name from two large black pines (kuro-matsu, Pinus thunbergii). Black pines grow along the coast of Izu Oshima and are especially common in this area. Close to the fishing port of Habu, though, most of the black pines have been killed by a pine blight that is spreading along the coastal areas of Japan.

The trail finishes at the Goze River area, and another trail continues for another couple of kilometers along the wooded coastline. One section of the park, at Kasamatsu, approximately halfway between Nihonmatsu and the camellia garden, was designated as a natural monument in 1951. Its rich flora include shore juniper (oo-shima-hainezu, Juniperus conferta var. maritima), growing on the coast in full exposure to the salt spray and the sun, under the picturesque lava cliffs.

Iso-giku, or beach chrysanthemum (Chrysanthemum pacificum), a creeping perennial that grows to 20-40 cm, is native to Japan's coast from Inubo Point on the Boso Peninsula down to Omae Head in Shizuoka, and around the coasts of the Izu Oshima islands. Chrysanthemum growers have cultivated this species for hundreds of years. The small golden yellow flowers open from October to December. Its leaves are thick, 4-8 cm long, with shallow teeth on the pale green top surface; the underside is white, making this chrysanthemum easy to identify.

The orange-red colored sukashi lily (Lilium maculatum) is native to the same coast as the beach chrysanthemum. It flowers in July. Other coastal denizens include the evergreen maruba-sharinbai (Rhaphiolepis umbellata var. integerrima), often used as a low hedge along the side of roads, and the lacecap hydrangea (gaku-ajisai, Hydrangea macrophylla var. normalis). Tsuwabuki (Farfugium japonicum) is an evergreen perennial with golden daisylike flowers October-December.

It is not necessary to walk the whole length of the nature trail. You could take a short walk through the coastal forest, where there is a break in the trees sit yourself down and just admire the waves breaking at the base of the cliffs, where you may see the Japanese or Temminck's cormorant (umi-u, Phalacrocorax filamentosus) or the streaked shearwater (oo-mizunagidori, Calonectris leucomelas).

I stayed in the Central Lodge for a couple of very peaceful nights. The views from this lodge are spectacular. There are no apartments or hotels nearby; it is totally secluded, especially in the off season.