Camellia sinensis var assamica, Assam-Tea

viable seeds of Camellia sinensis var. assamica

Camellia sinensis assamica is a variation of Camellia sinensis. The plant is also named Assam Tea. The variation assamica is distributed in China, India, Japan and Corea. It was discovered in a region called Assam in India, this fact can still be seen in the species name. Camellia sinensis assamica gets conspicuously higher than the variation Camellia sinensis sinensis. If one does not cut back the Assam Tea it grows cone- shaped and reaches a height of 15 to 30 m. Also the leaves are much bigger than does of Camellia sinensis sinensis. They get up to 20 cm long and 10 cm wide. The bottom side of the leaves is slightly pubescent. The leaves of Camellia sinensis assamica are ovate. Due to the big leaves Camellia sinensis assamica is more profit yielding than Camellia sinensis sinensis. In addition the Assam tea grows very fast. That makes harvesting of leaves nearly every 12 days possible.

The Assam Tea is used to produce a dark, black tea from the dried leaves. The young leaves are preferred for tea production; tea from young leaves is of higher quality. Beside the age the crucial factor is the altitude of the production area. A rule of thumb says: the higher the production area, the higher the quality of the tea. The flowers are actinomorphic and white. In the middle are the yellow stamens. The fruit is a capsule that contains the seeds. Nowadays hybrids from Camellia sinensis sinensis and Camellia sinensis assamica got quite popular. They are said to be profit yielding and robust. The naturally in subtropical region occurring Camellia sinensis assamica is not tolerant to frost. The plant should stand in the house during winter, placed somewhere where air humidity is quite high.

The seeds have to be roughened before they can be put into the substrate. This can be done with sand paper. The roughened seeds should then put into warm water for 2 days. After that they can be finally planted into the substrate. The substrate should be constantly moist. At a temperature of about 23°C the first seedlings emerge after 1 to 2 months.