On Nov 6, 10:26 am, Nigel wrote:
On Nov 4, 9:58 am, juliantai wrote:

Nigel, do you know which species the Yunan big leaf belongs: sinensis
or assamica?- Hide quoted text -

The Yunnan Big Leaf type bush by the 1950's was considered (by
Kitamura) to be Camellia sinensis var.sinensis f. macrophylla (the
large leaved "fixed variant" of the sinensis variety of C. sinensis).
He considered the Assam type bush to be Camellia sinensis
var.assamica. I think that this is still a plausible distinction.

There's been a deal of bitter fighting between rival taxonomists over
the centuries about tea genetics and origins, and any naming system
that is accepted today as explanation is likely to be overturned
tomorrow. Main problem is that tea is an out breeder, has had several
origins, has been bred cultivated and selected by man for millenia and
the result is highly mixed.

Confusing the issue is that recognised var. assamica material is known
from Yunnan and recognised var. sinensis f. macrophylla is known from
Assam - so the choice is yours!

Nigel at Teacraft

Thanks for enlightening.

I always wonder which family the big-leaf Taiping Houkui tea lies (it
is Eastern's China Anhui province) so I guess the answer is Camellia
sinensis var.sinensis f. macrophylla.

Gosh how I can ever remember this name ...

Agree that man selection and cultivation has a truly enormous impact
on cultivars.

I notice that a lot of modern Chinese tea plants tend to be
propagation rather than seedlings based. Does that propagation method
facilitates the cultivation/selection process better?

Julian
http://www.amazing-green-tea.com