Thea sinensis (or Chinese Tea)

This plant remains shrublike even without cutting it regularly and grows to a height of only 3 to 4 metres. It is especially useful for areas with moderate climate and even tolerates frost. The China-tea bush has been cultivated for a thousand years which resulted in an art-variety of approximately 5,000 species. However, not all of these are grown in amounts worth talking about.

The first tea cultivation in India started in the 19th century in the region Darjeeling with the Chinese camellia sinensis.

After the discovery of the Assam plant in the rainforest of the province of Assam, crossbreeding took place between two different tea bush varieties in India and Ceylon (Sri Lanka) in order to take advantage of the synergies between the two. These hybrids are cultivated almost everywhere today. For economic reasons the proportion of the quickly growing Assam plant is kept as high as possible in further hybrids.