About the plant
Camellia sinensis is native to eastern and southern Asia, where it grows best living beneath a canopy of taller trees.
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Least concern
The International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species uses a set of criteria to evaluate the extinction risk of the world’s species. The ongoing mission is to evaluate every plant species in the world.
IUCN Red List Status:
Not yet evaluatedData deficientLeast concernNear threatenedVulnerableEndangeredCritically endangeredExtinct in the wildExtinct -
Good garden plantPlant can be grown outside in the UK
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Human foodPlant supplies food for humans
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MedicinePlant or components of this plant are used in medicine
Facts
- Camellias first reached Europe around 1739
- The basis for most tea you drink
- Leaves are picked by hand
- Tea bushes can be seen in the Woodland Glade
- Require acid soil
About your cuppa
The leaves of Camellia sinensis are used for tea. Aside from water, tea is the most commonly drunk beverage in the world, over three million tonnes of C.sinensis are grown annually.
Drinking tea is the centre of many social rituals: Japanese tea ceremony, British teatime or Indian chai breaks. In Britain alone we drink 165 million cups of tea a day. That’s 62 billion cups a year!
-
Least concern
The International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species uses a set of criteria to evaluate the extinction risk of the world’s species. The ongoing mission is to evaluate every plant species in the world.
IUCN Red List Status:
Not yet evaluatedData deficientLeast concernNear threatenedVulnerableEndangeredCritically endangeredExtinct in the wildExtinct -
Good garden plantPlant can be grown outside in the UK
-
Human foodPlant supplies food for humans
-
MedicinePlant or components of this plant are used in medicine