cagary, this is a camellia seed pod set by nature( by bug, bee etc). You can wait when the fruit lacks shine and cracking. You will have a few seeds in Sept or Oct. Keep the seeds with moist perlite in a small zip-lock bag in refrigerator . You can germinate it next March with sand and ground peat in a 2- gal pot. You should have new camellias flower in about 5 years, possible resembling the mother camellia plant.

Or you can press the seed to get a few drops of tea flavored oil for cooking or to soften your skin.

I produce the seeds by hand cross-pollination. See the picture, one of my camellia seed setters( a white reti hybrid) with 7 seed pods which are wrapped in black lace to prevent losing of my valuable seeds

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:511243}}

cagary, your seed pod looks a bit malformed...perhaps from incomplete pollination of the flower. They are typically more uniformly shaped than that. They really DO look like apples, don't they? I've always thought that.

lindam, the seed pods will not ripen off the plant. Just like most seeds, they need to develop on a living plant for the seeds to mature properly. Wait for the hard shell of the seed pod to break open on its own before removal from the parent plant. At that point, you can be assured that the several seeds within (the number varies widely) are viable.

I know this was originally a post from 2 years ago, but it helped me a lot! Here are a few pics of my 'fruits'. I searched and found this thread! Thanks!
{{gwi:511259}}

{{gwi:511261}}

{{gwi:511265}}

Wow, I need the telephone number or cell number for your pollinator bees. Mine have never grown fruit. I guess maybe my bees are busy with the apple trees instead. Hee hee hee! Enjoy, Linda.

I really wanted to grow this plant and see their bunch of fruits.

If I"m not interested in harvesting seeds, should I remove the fruit pods? If so, when?

Remove the pods after they are well developed, but before they crack and spill their seeds.