Camellia taliensis Seeds | Tali Tea Camellia

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Tali Tea Camellia (Camellia taliensis) seed — Tali Tea Camellia (*Camellia taliensis*): Theaceae, genus Camellia , section Thea, native to Western Yunnan — the hills around Dali, Baoshan, Lincang and Dehong — and adjacent uplands of northern Myanmar, in broad-leaved forest at middle elevations.

LATIN NAME: Camellia taliensis

COMMON NAME: Tali Tea Camellia

Plant Profile

The species is an evergreen tree, sometimes a large shrub, with smooth grey bark, leathery oblong leaves that are noticeably bigger than those of most tea cultivars, and white flowers that open in the cool months with five to seven petals and a cluster of prominent yellow stamens. The fruit is a woody capsule that splits to release round, dark seeds, and old plants in Yunnan are measured in centuries rather than years.

A useful field character is the leaf itself: longer and broader than the leaf of a typical bush tea, with a surface that is glossy and a margin finely toothed, and a midrib that stays pale against the darker blade.

The old tea gardens of Yunnan are not plantations in the modern sense. Trees of the cultivated variety are grown under shade trees, and Camellia taliensis grows among them, sometimes deliberately and sometimes as a volunteer; plants that look intermediate between the two are common, and hybridisation between this species and the cultivated tea has been reported from these gardens for decades.

Young plants are cut back to force branching and trained to a flat, accessible surface, then trimmed lightly after each flush. Remove any dead wood in spring and keep the centre of the bush open to air, since dense, damp growth invites the fungal problems that follow.

Science & Biotechnology

Purine alkaloids are assembled in the tea leaf through a short, well-mapped sequence: xanthosine is methylated to 7-methylxanthosine by a xanthosine methyltransferase, the ribose is removed to leave 7-methylxanthine, a theobromine synthase adds the next methyl group, and a caffeine synthase completes the molecule. The same pathway gives the leaves their caffeine and their smaller amounts of theobromine and theophylline.

Because the enzymes sit in a single linear route, the alkaloid profile of a wild camellia is a readable signature of its genetics. Species and cultivars differ in how far along the pathway they go, and relatives that stop short of caffeine — accumulating theobromine instead — have been used in breeding programmes aimed at naturally low-caffeine tea.

Uses & Benefits

The leaves also carry the flavan-3-ols that make tea what it is: epigallocatechin gallate, epigallocatechin, epicatechin and their gallates, together with gallic acid, and the amino acid theanine, which contributes the savoury note in a good infusion. Green leaf is extracted for these fractions for the supplement trade, and the same compounds are the target of most analytical work on the species.

In Yunnan the leaf of these wild trees is picked and processed much like the local large-leaf tea: withered in shade, fixed by heat to stop oxidation, rolled, then dried in sun rather than fired in a pan. The result is a strong, bitter, long-lasting infusion, and in the villages near old tea forests it is sold as wild tea and blended with the standard crop.

Pluck two leaves and a bud from the young shoots, spread them thinly in shade until they are limp enough to fold without snapping, then fix them quickly in a hot dry pan before rolling and drying. Leaf from old trees is coarser and tougher than garden tea, so a slightly longer wither helps, and a coarser grade is expected in the cup.

Growing from Seed

Camellia roots want acid ground, good drainage and shade for part of the day, and a season of patience after planting.

The tea green leafhopper punctures young shoots and causes the leaf margins to brown, and red spider mite builds up on the upper leaf surface in dry weather. Anthracnose and blister blight both follow long wet spells, so ventilation through the bush matters. Frost is the other limit: young plants need shelter, and new shoots are the first thing to burn.

Our Take

The ordinary crop plant, tea, is what most gardeners actually want, and the large-leafed Assam variety is the closest in habit to this wild species. Where low-caffeine leaf is the goal, Camellia crassicolumna is the relative usually used in that breeding work.

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