1379

                Camelia sinensis  (L.) Kuntze

Family	:	Theaceae
Local name	:	English- Tea plant Malayalam-  Theyila
Flowering and fruiting period	:	June-January
Distribution	:	Cultivated in Subtropical and warm temperate zones of South-east Asia
Distribution in Kerala	:	Palakkad, Kottayam, Idukki, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Thiruvananthapuram, Thrissur, Wayanad, Kozhikkode
Habitat	:	Evergreen broad-leaved forests, thickets, Widely cultivated in mountain slopes, altitude up to 2200 m.
Endemic/Exotic	:	Exotic
Uses	:	Used as a beverage and widely cultivated. Used in Ayurveda, Homeopathy, Unani, Sidha, folk and modern medicines.
Key botanical characters: Evergreen small trees or shrubs, about 1-6 m tall, bark grayish brown, branchlets slender, glabrous and purplish. Leaves simple, alternate, elliptic-oblong to obovate-oblong, about 4-16 x 1.5-6.5 cm across, base cuneate, margins sinuate-serrate to serrulate, apex abruptly acute, coriaceous, shining, green glabrous above and paler hairy, latter glabrescent beneath, midrib slightly prominent above and prominent beneath, lateral veins 6-9, faint on either side of the midrib, veinlets faintly reticulate, petiole about 2-7 mm long. Inflorescence axillary or subterminal, solitary or 2-6 flowered in fascicles. Flowers bisexual, white, about 2.3-3.5 cm across, pedicel slender, about 6-10 mm long, bracteoles 2-3, ovate, apex obtuse, velutinous or glabrous, caducous, about 2 mm long, sepals 5-6, imbricate, unequal, ovate-orbicular, base connate, glabrous inside, velutinous outside, differentiated from the bracts towards petals, about 3-6 x 2-3 mm across, petals 7-8, imbricate, white, broadly ovate-obovate, concave, glabrous inside, velutinous towards the apex outside, about 10-16 x 6-20 mm across, stamens numerous, partially connate to form ring or tube, unequal, towards the centre free, outer ones connate till middle, villous, base adnate to petals, about 8-10 mm long, anthers dorsifixed, 2 loculed, yellow, dehiscing by longitudinally or laterally, ovary superior, globose, 1 locular, densely villous with white hairs, about 2-5 mm long, axile placentation, ovules 1-3 in each locule, style 3-fid, about 5-7 mm long. Fruit capsule, subglobose-ellipsoid, about 1-1.5 x 1.5-2.5 cm across, woody, usually 3 loculed, with persistent central axis. Seeds 3, globose-oblate, about 1-1.5 cm across, reddish brown or brown, glabrous, embryo thick, erect, exalbuminous and with high oil content.