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How tall can an unpruned Assam tea plant grow?

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Neatly planted rows of green tea bushes stretch across rolling fields with Mount Fuji, capped with snow, rising in the background in Japan. — tea Rows of tea (*Camellia sinensis*) growing in Japan, with Mount Fuji in the background.

An unpruned Assam tea plant (Camellia sinensis variety assamica) grows as a single-stem tree that can reach a height ranging from 6 to 18 metres (20 to 60 feet).1

While these plants are capable of reaching such heights in their natural state, they are typically kept as low mounded shrubs in commercial cultivation through regular pruning and plucking to encourage the development of young leaves.1