Camellia assamica var. kucha

This discussion reminded me of a friend just passing on a reference about “other” types of tea related plants, like Camellia taliensis, but other than that as well:

http://puerh-tea.livejournal.com/249074.html

I wouldn’t go searching out near-tea type plants to try out but I did stumble across something of the sort recently, with results not really worth passing on (not so much like tea, not worth seeking out, indeterminate plant type, better to not ingest too much of anything following such a description).

For someone really obsessed with cultivars this is a great reference, with limited mention of “other” tea types (mostly camelia formosensis), but lots of detail on landraces and hybrids throughout Taiwan and other countries:

http://as-botanicalstudies.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/1999-3110-55-12

I think kucha = assamica. Maybe someone with more knowledge on botanical nomenclature can clear this up?

“Camellia assamica var. kucha Hung T. Chang & H.S.Wang is a synonym of Camellia sinensis var. assamica (J.W.Mast.) Kitam”.

http://www.theplantlist.org/tpl1.1/record/tro-31600384
http://www.tropicos.org/Name/31600384