Description of Camellia sect. Thea: Shrubs or trees, evergreen; trunk smooth, yellowish or brownish gray; leaves alternate, petiolate, coriaceous, margin serrulate; flowers axillary, clearly pedicellate; bracteoles 2–4, caducous; sepals persistent; petals white; stamens numerous, glabrous; style 1, apically usually 3–5-lobed; capsule oblate, globose to 3–5-coccal, seeds brown or fuscous, glabrous. Usually 2n = 30.
茶组特征:灌木或乔木,常绿;树干光滑,淡黄色或棕灰色;叶互生,具叶柄,革质,边缘有细锯齿;花腋生,有明显花梗;小苞片2-4,早落;萼片宿存;花瓣白色;雄蕊多数,无毛;花柱1,顶部通常3-5裂;蒴果扁球形、球状至3-5球囊状,种子棕色或淡紫色,无毛。通常 2n = 30。
Tea plants, Camellia sect. Thea (Theaceae), are popular beverage sources worldwide. Camellia sect. Longissima is treated as a new heterotypic synonym of sect. Thea. The taxonomy of tea plants was reviewed to contain 11 natural species and seven infraspecific taxa, including 突肋茶C. costata, 皱叶茶 C. crispula, 多萼茶C. crispula var. multiplex, 防城茶C. fangchengensis, 秃房茶C. gymnogyna, 广西茶C. kwangsiensis, 广南茶C. kwangnanica, 膜叶茶C. leptophylla, 超长柄茶C. longissima, 毛叶茶C. ptilophylla, 茶C. sinensis, C. sinensis f. formosensis, 普洱茶C. sinensis var. assamica, 德宏茶C. sinensis var. dehungensis, 白毛茶C. sinensis var. pubilimba, 大厂茶 C. tachangensis, 疏齿大厂茶C. tachangensis var. remotiserrata, and 大理茶C. taliensis.
While 细花山茶Camellia flosculora (2021), 大苞茶 C. grandibracteata (1983), 毛肋茶 C. pubicosta (1942), and 老挝茶C. sealyana (1999) were excluded from sect. Thea.
1 |
Pedicel (1.7–)2–4 cm long |
|
1 |
Pedicel 0.5–1.5(−2) cm long |
2 |
2 |
Ovary hairy |
3 |
2 |
Ovary glabrous |
10 |
3 |
Sepals hairy outside |
4 |
3 |
Sepals glabrous outside |
7 |
4 |
Flower 3.5–5.5 cm in diam |
|
4 |
Flower 2–3.5 cm in diam |
5 |
5 |
Leaf blade 5.5–12.5 cm wide, base obtuse to rounded |
|
5 |
Leaf blade 2–7.5 cm wide, base cuneate |
6 |
6 |
Leaf blade 5–12 cm long, abaxially glabrescent; sepals sericeous inside |
|
6 |
Leaf blade 6.5–25 cm long, abaxially pubescent; sepals glabrous inside |
|
7 |
New branchlets glabrous; flower 3–5.5 cm in diam., style apically (3–)5-lobed |
8 |
7 |
New branchlets pubescent; flower 2.5–3.5 cm in diam., style apically 3-lobed |
9 |
8 |
Pericarp 1.5–4 mm thick |
|
8 |
Pericarp 4–8 mm thick |
|
9 |
Leaf blade 5–12 × 2–5 cm, leaf apex acute, shortly attenuate or rounded |
|
9 |
Leaf blade 8–29 cm × 3.5–10 cm, leaf apex attenuate or acuminate |
|
10 |
Sepals hairy outside |
|
10 |
Sepals glabrous outside |
11 |
11 |
Style apically 4–5-lobed |
12 |
11 |
Style apically 3-lobed |
14 |
12 |
Pericarp 4–8 mm thick |
13 |
12 |
Pericarp 1–2 mm thick |
15 |
13 |
New branchlets puberulous to pubescent; leaf blade abaxially puberulous |
|
13 |
New branchlets glabrous; leaf blade abaxially glabrous |
14 |
14 |
Leaf buds usually glabrous; leaf margin serrate |
|
14 |
Leaf buds pubescent; leaf margin usually sparsely serrate |
|
15 |
Leaf buds glabrous or puberulous |
16 |
15 |
Leaf buds pubescent |
17 |
16 |
Leaf blade abaxially glabrous; pedicel 5–20 mm long |
|
16 |
Leaf blade abaxially glabrous or sparsely puberulous; pedicel 3–7 mm long |
C. sinensis |
17 |
Sepals glabrous inside |
|
17 |
Sepals sericeous inside |
18 |
18 |
Sepals 3–5 × 4–8 mm |
|
18 |
Sepals 2.5–3.5 × 3–4 mm |