Camellia sinensis

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Camellia sinensis is the evergreen shrub or tree whose leaves make tea, with two principal cultivated varieties: var. sinensis, the small-leaved China type, and var. assamica, the large-leaved type native to the Yunnan–Assam borderlands. Nuclear microsatellite and chloroplast studies distinguish three lineages — China type, Chinese Assam type and Indian Assam type — and argue for independent domestication events in China and India rather than a single origin. The primary centre of genetic diversity for var. assamica lies in Yunnan, with north-east India near the south-western limit of its natural range. Where and how many times the plant was domesticated remains actively contested in the genetics literature.