Camellia sinensis is native to East, South and Southeast Asia, but it is today cultivated across the world in tropical and subtropical regions.
description
Camellia sinensis is an evergreen shrub or small tree of the Theaceae family
that is usually trimmed to below 2 m (6.6 ft) when cultivated for its
leaves. It has a strong taproot. The flowers are yellow-white, 2.5–4 cm
(0.98–1.6 in) in diameter, with 7 to 8 petals. The leaves are 4–15 cm
(1.6–5.9 in) long and 2–5 cm (0.79–2.0 in) broad. Fresh tea leaves contain about
4% caffeine. The young, light green leaves are preferably harvested for tea
production; they have short white hairs on the underside. Older leaves are
deeper green.
Different leaf ages produce differing tea qualities, since
their chemical compositions are different. White tea, yellow tea, green
tea, oolong, pu-erh tea and black tea are all harvested from this species,
but are processed differently to attain different levels of oxidation.
common names & nomenclature
The name Camellia is taken from the Latinized name of Rev. Georg Kamel
(1661–1706), a Czech-born Jesuit lay brother, pharmacist, and missionary to
the Philippines. Carl Linnaeus chose his name in 1753 for the genus to honor
Kamel's contributions to botany. The name sinensis means ‘from China’ in
Latin.
Also known as:
tea plant, tea shrub, tea tree