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The Tea Plant
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All true tea comes from just one plant – the Chinese Camellia or Camellia sinensis. It is reputed that the first tea plants were found in what is now the Yunnan Province of China nearly 5000 years ago. Most of the tea grown in the world today can be traced back to these first wild tea plants, although a strong case can be made that the Camellia sinensis var. Assamica is native to the Brahmaputra River valley in Northeastern India.
The tea plant is a broadleaf variety of evergreen shrub, which is commonly pruned to form a bush 3–4 feet in height in commercial tea plantations. Should workers not prune the bushes, the plants would naturally grow to a height of 9'–60', depending on the variety.
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