Ask the Chatbot Games & Quizzes History & Society Science & Tech Biographies Animals & Nature Geography & Travel Arts & Culture ProCon Money Videos
Tea plant
References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics
Images & Videos
Close-up of vibrant green leaves of the tea plant, Camellia sinensis, growing densely together. Länkäran, Azerbaijan: tea plantation Tea plantation, Sri Lanka Neatly planted rows of green tea bushes stretch across rolling fields with Mount Fuji, capped with snow, rising in the background in Japan. tea leaf harvest A farmer wearing a hat and camouflage shirt sprays pesticides among neatly trimmed rows of tea plants on a terraced hillside, with yellow buildings in the background. Three Vietnamese women wearing conical hats pick tea leaves among green tea bushes on terraced hillsides in Lam Dong province, Vietnam, with trees and fields in the background. Darjeeling, West Bengal, India: picking tea leaves Shizuoka, Japan Malaysia: farmworker
Feedback
Corrections? Updates? Omissions? Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login).
Thank you for your feedback

Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.

External Websites
Close-up of vibrant green leaves of the tea plant, Camellia sinensis, growing densely together.
Camellia sinensis Young, fragrant leaves of the tea plant (Camellia sinensis).

Tea plant

plant
Also known as: Camellia sinensis, Thea sinensis
Written by
Campbell Ronald Harler
Adviser on tea to the Central Treaty Organization. Author of The Culture and Marketing of Tea.
Campbell Ronald Harler
Fact-checked by
Britannica Editors
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
Britannica Editors
Last updated
•History

Tea plant, (Camellia sinensis), evergreen flowering plant valued for its young leaves and leaf buds, from which the tea beverage is produced. Two principal varieties are used commercially, the small-leaved China plant (Camellia sinensis, variety sinensis) and the large-leaved Assam plant (C. sinensis, variety assamica). Hybrids of these two varieties are also grown. For information on the processing of tea and the history of its use, see tea. The natural habitat of the tea plant...

Discover the world with Britannica

Subscribe to Continue Reading

Free Trial | No Ads | Exclusive Content
Explore Subscriptions
DNA
Right
Mobile