GRIP

GRIP



Taxon:  Camellia sinensis (L.) Kuntze



Summary
Genus:
Camellia
Subgenus:
Thea
Section:
Thea
Family:
Theaceae
Tribe:
Theeae
Nomen number:
8732
Place of publication:
Trudy Imp. S.-Peterburgsk. Bot. Sada 10:195. 1887
Verified:
12/12/2005 ARS Systematic Botanists.
Accessions:
0 (0  active, 0  available) in National Plant Germplasm System. 
Other conspecific taxa
Camellia sinensis (L.) Kuntze var. assamica (J. W. Mast.) Kitam. (0 active accession[s])
Camellia sinensis (L.) Kuntze var. dehungensis (H. T. Chang & B. H. Chen) T. L. Ming (0 active accession[s])
Camellia sinensis (L.) Kuntze var. pubilimba Hung T. Chang (0 active accession[s])
Camellia sinensis (L.) Kuntze var. sinensis (0 active accession[s])
Autonyms (not in current use), synonyms and invalid designations
Heterotypic Synonym(s)
Thea bohea L.
Thea viridis L.
No images


Reference(s)
  1. Aldén, B., S. Ryman, & M. Hjertson. 2012. Svensk Kulturväxtdatabas, SKUD (Swedish Cultivated and Utility Plants Database; online resource) www.skud.info
  2. Chinese Academy of Sciences. 1959-. Flora reipublicae popularis sinicae.
  3. Davis, P. H., ed. 1965-1988. Flora of Turkey and the east Aegean islands.
  4. Duke, J. A. et al. 2002. CRC Handbook of medicinal herbs
  5. Erhardt, W. et al. 2002. Zander: Handwörterbuch der Pflanzennamen, 17. Auflage
  6. Farnsworth, N. R. & D. D. Soejarto. 1988. Global importance of medicinal plants (unpublished draft manuscript rev. 23)
  7. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). 2010. Ecocrop (on-line resource).
  8. Grierson, A. J. C. & D. J. Long. 1984-. Flora of Bhutan including a record of plants from Sikkim.
  9. Groth, D. 2005. pers. comm. Note: re. Brazilian common names
  10. Hara, H. et al. 1978-1982. An enumeration of the flowering plants of Nepal.
  11. Integrated Botanical Information System (IBIS). Australian plant common name database (on-line resource).
  12. Jiangsu Inst. Bot., ed. v. 1; Shan. R. H., ed. v. 2. 1977-1982. Jiangsu Zhiwuzhi (Flora of Jiangsu).
  13. Leung, A. Y. & S. Foster. 1996. Encyclopedia of common natural ingredients used in food, drugs, and cosmetics, ed. 2
  14. Liberty Hyde Bailey Hortorium. 1976. Hortus third.
  15. Mabberley, D. J. 1997. The plant-book: a portable dictionary of the vascular plants, ed. 2
  16. Markle, G. M. et al., eds. 1998. Food and feed crops of the United States, ed. 2
  17. McGuffin, M., J. T. Kartesz, A. Y. Leung, & A. O. Tucker. 2000. Herbs of commerce, ed. 2 American Herbal Products Association, Silver Spring, Maryland.
  18. Meegahakumbura, M K. et al. 2016. Indications for three independent domestication events for tea plant (Camellia sinensis (L.) O. Kuntze) and new insights into the origin of tea germplasm in China and India revealed by nuclear microsatellites. PLoS One 11(5): e0155369.
  19. Meegahakumbura, M. K. et al. 2018. Domestication origin and breeding history of the tea plant (Camellia sinensis) in China and India based on nuclear microsatellites and cpDNA sequence data. Front. Plant Sci. 8:2270.
  20. Meyer, F. G. et al. 1994. A catalog of cultivated woody plants of the southeastern United States
  21. Ohwi, J. 1965. Flora of Japan (Engl. ed.). Note: = Thea sinensis
  22. Personal Care Products Council. INCI
  23. Porcher, M. H. et al. Searchable World Wide Web Multilingual Multiscript Plant Name Database (MMPND) (on-line resource).
  24. Rehm, S. & G. Espig. 1991. The cultivated plants of the tropics and subtropics
  25. Rehm, S. 1994. Multilingual dictionary of agronomic plants
  26. Sharma, B. D. et al., eds. 1993-. Flora of India.
  27. Smitinand, T. & K. Larsen, eds. 1970-. Flora of Thailand.
  28. Steward, A. N. 1958. Manual of vascular plants of the lower Yangtze valley.
  29. Vossen, H. A. M. van der & M. Wessel, eds. 2000. Stimulants. Plant Resources of South-East Asia (PROSEA) 16:55.
  30. Walker, E. 1976. Flora of Okinawa and the southern Ryukyu Islands.
  31. Westphal, E. & P. C. M. Jansen, eds. 1989. A selection. Plant Resources of South-East Asia (PROSEA) 72-79.
  32. Wu Zheng-yi & P. H. Raven et al., eds. 1994-. Flora of China (English edition). Note: with four varieties: var. assamica, var. dehungensis, var. pubilimba and var. sinensis
  33. Yang, H. et al. 2016. Genetic divergence between Camellia sinensis and its wild relatives revealed via genome-wide SNPs from RAD sequencing. PLoS One 11(3): e0151424. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0151424.
Common names
English
black tea –
common tea –
green tea –
Japanese tea –
tea –
teabush –
teaplant –
French
arbre à thé –
thé –
théier –
German
Teestrauch –
India
cha –
chai –
Japanese Rōmaji
cha-no-ki –
Portuguese
chá-da-Índia –
Portuguese (Brazil)
chá –
chá-preto –
Spanish
árbol del té –
té –
Swedish
te –
Transcribed Chinese
cha –
Distribution
order_codeStatusContinentSubcontinentCountryStateNote
1NativeAsia-TemperateChinaChinaGuangdong Sheng 
1NativeAsia-TemperateChinaChinaGuangxi Zhuangzu Zizhiqu 
1NativeAsia-TemperateChinaChinaYunnan Shengs.
1NativeAsia-TropicalIndian SubcontinentIndiaAssam 
1NativeAsia-TropicalIndo-ChinaIndochina  
1NativeAsia-TropicalIndo-ChinaMyanmar n.
1NativeAsia-TropicalIndo-ChinaThailand n.
2Cultivated    widely cult.
Native
Asia-Temperate
  • CHINA: China [Guangdong Sheng, Guangxi Zhuangzu Zizhiqu, Yunnan Sheng (s.)]
Asia-Tropical
  • INDIAN SUBCONTINENT: India [Assam]
  • INDO-CHINA: Indochina, Myanmar (n.), Thailand (n.)
Cultivated (widely cult.)
Economic Uses
UsageTypeNoteReference
Food additivesflavoring Leung, A. Y. & S. Foster. 1996. Encyclopedia of common natural ingredients used in food, drugs, and cosmetics, ed. 2
Human foodbeverage base Vossen, H. A. M. van der & M. Wessel, eds. 2000. Stimulants. Plant Resources of South-East Asia (PROSEA) 16:55.
Medicinesfolklore Duke, J. A. et al. 2002. CRC Handbook of medicinal herbs
Medicinesfolklore McGuffin, M., J. T. Kartesz, A. Y. Leung, & A. O. Tucker. 2000. Herbs of commerce, ed. 2 American Herbal Products Association, Silver Spring, Maryland.
Medicinesfolkloresource of caffeine & theophyllineFarnsworth, N. R. & D. D. Soejarto. 1988. Global importance of medicinal plants (unpublished draft manuscript rev. 23)
Socialstimulant Vossen, H. A. M. van der & M. Wessel, eds. 2000. Stimulants. Plant Resources of South-East Asia (PROSEA) 16:55.
Socialstimulant Mabberley, D. J. 1997. The plant-book: a portable dictionary of the vascular plants, ed. 2
Cite as: USDA, Agricultural Research Service, National Plant Germplasm System. 2025. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN Taxonomy). National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland.
URL: https://grip.mawarid.gov.om/gringlobal/taxon/taxonomydetail?id=8732. Accessed 6 May 2025.