Talk:Camellia sinensis

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[edit] Japanese variety?

I recall reading somewhere that the Japanese green tea is made of a special variety of Camellia Sinensis, something like var Japonica or a similar addition. I will look it up later. --Gabi S. 20:11, 10 June 2006 (UTC)

This kind? It redirects you to the "Camellia" page but it's on the list. --Moop stick 21:10, 10 June 2006 (UTC)

OK, I looked it up. The Japanese variety is seldom mentioned (for example here), and it is indeed confusing that the Camellia japonica is ornamental and not used for tea. This page says that there is no such thing as an independent Japanese variety, and the erroneously-depicted Camellia sinensis var japonica is actually a subspecies of the Camellia sinensis.

By the way, someone here says that the Cambodian variety is often considered a hybrid of var sinesis and va assamica (only two varieties are listed in the plants classification guide). So the Cambodian variety is also a subspecies, and the article should be corrected accordingly. --Gabi S. 08:37, 11 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] HK Variety?

This article and the main tea article list four botanical types of the tea plant (china, cambodia, assam, hong kong), but almost everywhere else the number is listed as three (china, cambodia, assam). Yet this article also implies that the HK variety is incorrect or really part of the china variety. If this is true, then HK should not get a full heading, and the number should be listed as "3". As for other varieties *such as japanese), there are apparently hundreds of hybrids, and moreover, just within the china variety there are six main sub-categories and hundreds of individuals types of tea plants.