Which plant provides the leaves and buds used to make true tea?

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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.

"True" tea is produced from the leaves and leaf buds of the tea plant, scientifically known as Camellia sinensis.123

While many other infusions are colloquially referred to as tea, they are more accurately classified as tisanes. The Camellia sinensis plant is an evergreen shrub or tree belonging to the Theaceae family. There are two primary varieties used commercially: the small-leaved China plant (C. sinensis variety sinensis) and the large-leaved Assam plant (C. sinensis variety assamica), as well as various hybrids.421