Abstract: Development of oil-tea camellia industry can effectively increase farmers’ incomes, promote precise alleviation of poverty, and improve ecological environment. A national-scale climate suitability regionalization of oil-tea camellia could provide a scientific basis for the development of the oiltea camellia industry. The objective of this study was to determine the main production regions of Camellia oleifera Abel., a species with the largest planting area and total production in China. Values of key climate factors were calculated for the main planting regions (i.e., counties and cities with more than 6667 hm² of actual planted area), including mean annual temperature, mean temperatures in January and July, annual precipitation, and sunshine hours. Based on those variables, the regional climatic planting suitability was tested using an improved climate similarity distance method on a national 1 km×1 km grid. Results showed that the most suitable area for C. oleifera production was 98×10⁴ km² that was mainly located in Hunan, Jiangxi, Fujian and Zhejiang provinces and the neighboring areas. Areas that were classified as suitable and sub-suitable levels were 52×10⁴ km² and 80×10⁴ km², respectively, which were located on the periphery of the most suitable area. The north and west boundaries of the subsuitable area were about 33.5°N and 111.5°E, respectively. There were no clear southern and eastern boundaries. Hunan Province had the largest most suitable area, followed by Jiangxi, Guangxi, Zhejiang and Fujian provinces. These areas accounted for about 70% of the total production area in China. Compared with the actual planting area recorded in multiple sources, this regionalization well represented the actual distribution of C. oleifera. Compared with the climatic characteristics of the main production areas, this regionalization accurately distinguished the climatic characteristics of the most suitable, suitable and subsuitable areas for C. oleifera production. Through identifying the distributions of the climate suitable regions for C. oleifera production, our results provide scientific support for the planning and development of the camellia industry.

Key words: climatic suitability, climatic similarity distance, Camellia oleifera Abel., regionalization.