Tea as Camellia Sinensis: Sinensis vs. Assamica
Although the tea plant is an ancient plant with a long history, the confusion of the nomenclature has continued for almost two centuries. As early as 1753, Linnaneus described the tea plant as Thea Sinensis, and it was modified to Camellia Sinensis in August of the same year. Since then, the genus name of Thea and Camellia has had a checkered history.
In the second edition of Species Plantarum, Linnaeus abandoned the former name and described the two species separately: Thea Bohea and T. viridis. Watt in India named it Camellia Thea in 1907; Cohen-Start in Indonesia used a new name of C. theifera. Sealy in the UK (1958) also gave the same name, Camellia Senensis (L.)O.Kuntze and included two varieties: var.sinensis(small-leaf variety) and var.assamica (large-leaf variety). Since then, despite some papers contributing to the botanical name of the tea plant, Camellia sinensis (L.) O.Kuntze, uniformity has been achieved.
The var. Sinensis tea plant usually grows into a shrub about 1-5 meters high, characterized by more or less virgate stems. Leaves are small, hard and dark-green in color with a dull surface.
The var. Assamica tea plant is described an erect tree with many branches, 8-12 meters high. Leaves are 15-20 cm long, light-green in color with a glossy surface.
In China, tea plants are classified into 3 categories according to the national standard implemented on 27th Oct 2014, as tree, semi-tree and shrub.
A tree is a more primitive type of tea tree. It is distributed close to the natural conditions of tea origin, that is, tropical or subtropical areas in China. The plant is tall, with racemose branches, high branches and sparse branches and leaves. The leaves are large, and the variation range of leaf length is 10-26cm, and the leaf length of most varieties is more than 14cm.
Small tree is an evolutionary type. It has stronger stress resistance than arbors and is distributed in subtropical or tropical tea areas. The plant is tall, and the trunk from the base to the middle of the plant is obvious, while the trunk in the upper part of the plant is not obvious. The branches are sparse, the leaf length of most varieties is between 10-14 cm.
Shrub is also an evolutionary type. It includes the most varieties, mainly distributed in subtropical tea areas, which are distributed in most tea areas in China. The plant is low and has no obvious trunk. From the base of the plant, the branches are dense, the leaves are small, and the variation range of leaf length is large. It is between 2.2-14 cm, and the leaf length of most varieties is less than 10 cm.