Yunnan / wild tea

Photo: Raffi Kojian — CC BY-SA 3.0 · source

Survives zone 8 through 9

Harvest calendar

Best planted in early spring after your last frost, or in fall before the ground freezes, depending on your climate.

A LEAF crop (tea), not a fruit; shading before harvest raises umami (matcha) Care: Winter protection — mulch, fleece, or a warm wall.

Hardiness

Zone 8–9

Habit

Shrub

Edible part

Leaf

Ripens

Spring–autumn (leaf flushes)

Mature size

Tree 2–15 m; kept as a pruned bush where it is farmed rather than harvested wild

Light

Partial shade

Soil pH

5.0–6.5 — ⚠ ACID-LOVING (like Ericaceae)

Environment

Montane

Native range

Western Yunnan and adjoining Myanmar, Laos and Thailand, in montane broadleaf forest at 1,100–2,750 m. This is the wild tea tree of the old Yunnan forests — many of the 'ancient tea trees' harvested for pu-erh are this species rather than C. sinensis.

Status

Both wild and cultivated

Years to fruit

3–4 yrs (leaf harvest)

Growth speed

Slow to moderate — the wild trees harvested for pu-erh are centuries old

Spacing

300 cm (118 in) apart — about 9 m² (97 sq ft) per plant

Leaf shape

Alternate, evergreen, leathery and distinctly larger than the Chinese tea bush — elliptic 8–18 cm, often downy beneath, with shallow teeth. Big leaves are the field character that separates it from C. sinensis.

Root system

A deep taproot with wide fibrous laterals, matching its life as a forest tree rather than a pruned bush — and, like the rest of the genus, strictly lime-hating.

Fruit description

Not the crop. Woody capsules holding large round seeds, oilier and bigger than C. sinensis'. The leaves are what is harvested, processed as pu-erh and other Yunnan teas.

Propagation

Cuttings under mist, or fresh seed sown immediately — the seed is oily and will not keep. Self-incompatible, so seedlings are all crosses.

Pollination

SELF-INCOMPATIBLE — plant more than one

The edible parts listed above are a starting point, not a field guide. Identify a plant with certainty — ideally against a local authority — before eating any part of it, and read the full disclaimer. Spotted something wrong? Report it.