---
type: Object
title: Camellia Sinensis
description: The evergreen shrub native to the highlands of East and South Asia whose
  leaves are the sole botanical source of true tea, grown as the smaller China variety
  or the larger-leaved Assam variety.
aliases:
- tea plant
tags:
- tea
- botany
- species
- cultivation
resource: raw/tea-guide.md
timestamp: '2026-07-16T15:54:42Z'
citadel_version: 0.3.0
---

Camellia sinensis is an evergreen shrub native to the highlands of East and South Asia, and the sole plant species from which true [tea](tea.md) is made.[^s1] It thrives in warm, humid climates with ample rainfall and good drainage, and many of the finest teas are grown at altitude, where cool nights slow the leaf's growth and concentrate flavour.[^s2] The plant is kept pruned to a low bush for ease of plucking.[^s3] The most prized harvest is the "flush" of young shoots — typically the bud and the two leaves immediately below it — which contain the highest proportion of the compounds responsible for aroma and briskness.[^s4]

Two principal varieties dominate cultivation.[^s5] The China variety is a smaller, hardier plant suited to cooler highland conditions, while the Assam variety, native to South Asia, is larger-leaved and favours hot, lowland tropics.[^s5] Most commercial teas derive from one of these two varieties or from hybrids between them.[^s6] Botanically these are var. *sinensis* and var. *assamica*; the latter, malty and tropical, is also the base variety behind most pu-erh.[^s7]

## See also
- [Tea](tea.md)
- [History of Tea](../concepts/history-of-tea.md)
- [Tea Processing](../concepts/tea-processing.md)
- [Tea Cultivars](../concepts/tea-cultivars.md)

## Sources
[^s1]: [raw/tea-guide.md](../../raw/tea-guide.md), lines 12-13 — species named, evergreen shrub native to highlands of East and South Asia, sole source of true tea (ingested 2026-07-16)
[^s2]: [raw/tea-guide.md](../../raw/tea-guide.md), lines 63-65 — growing conditions: warm humid climate, rainfall, drainage, and altitude concentrating flavour (ingested 2026-07-16)
[^s3]: [raw/tea-guide.md](../../raw/tea-guide.md), lines 65-66 — kept pruned to a low bush for plucking (ingested 2026-07-16)
[^s4]: [raw/tea-guide.md](../../raw/tea-guide.md), lines 66-69 — the "flush" harvest of bud and two leaves (ingested 2026-07-16)
[^s5]: [raw/tea-guide.md](../../raw/tea-guide.md), lines 71-73 — China variety vs. Assam variety (ingested 2026-07-16)
[^s6]: [raw/tea-guide.md](../../raw/tea-guide.md), lines 73-74 — most commercial teas derive from these two or hybrids (ingested 2026-07-16)
[^s7]: [raw/tea-processing-and-cultivars.md](../../raw/tea-processing-and-cultivars.md), lines 74-78 — botanical variety names (var. sinensis, var. assamica) and assamica as the base of most pu-erh (ingested 2026-07-16)
