Kauaʻi record · kba_plant_camellia_sinensis
Tea Plant
Camellia sinensis
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About Tea Plant
Tea Plant (Camellia sinensis) is an introduced tree treated as naturalized on Kauaʻi by Bishop Museum’s 2025 checklist and the 2026 Smithsonian checklist. Current extent is unassessed. A subtropical evergreen shrub or tree native from the eastern Himalaya through southern China and northern Indo-China, with wild or long-established populations associated with forest and shrubland. Long cultivation has obscured parts of its original wild distribution. Naturalized on Kauaʻi in the Bishop Museum 2025 checklist (Status=nat; K=K), with Smithsonian 2026 Kauaʻi corroboration; public occurrence is island-level only. This evidence does not quantify current abundance or ecological effects.
Kauaʻi evidence
Taxonomic identity, tree form, diagnostic morphology and island occurrence use the linked reviewed sources. Historical planting, cultivation, naturalization and invasive status are separate. Generated imagery is not occurrence evidence.
Names and classification
- Scientific name
- Camellia sinensis
- Common names
- Tea Plant · Tea shrub · Tea tree
- Other names
- Camellia sinensis · Tea plant · Tea shrub · Tea tree · Thea sinensis L.
- Record type
- Species
Kauaʻi occurrence and status
- Kauaʻi occurrence
- Recorded on Kauaʻi
- Origin
- Introduced
- Conservation status
- Not yet assessed
- Evidence date
- 2026-10-06
- Evidence limits
- Current island-wide abundance, occupied habitat, reproductive distribution, population trend, and ecological effects on Kauaʻi remain unassessed.
Habitat and ecology
- Habitats
- Not yet assessed
- Food and resource needs
- Not yet assessed
- Reproduction
- Flowers are bisexual and bear numerous stamens; fertilized flowers develop into woody capsules with relatively large seeds. Successful recruitment requires flowering, pollination, capsule maturation, seed dispersal, and seedling establishment. Kauaʻi-specific phenology, pollinators, seed production, and recruitment are unmeasured.
- Shelter
- Not yet assessed
- Growth form
- Small tree; Shrub
Threats and conservation
- Monitoring
- Not yet assessed
- Data gaps
- Current population extent and trajectory · Additional species-specific ecological and conservation sources
Process and seasonal context
- Seasonal timing
- Not yet assessed
- Seasonal description
- Tea Plant (Camellia sinensis) is an introduced tree treated as naturalized on Kauaʻi by Bishop Museum’s 2025 checklist and the 2026 Smithsonian checklist. Current extent is unassessed. A subtropical evergreen shrub or tree native from the eastern Himalaya through southern China and northern Indo-China, with wild or long-established populations associated with forest and shrubland. Long cultivation has obscured parts of its original wild distribution. Naturalized on Kauaʻi in the Bishop Museum 2025 checklist (Status=nat; K=K), with Smithsonian 2026 Kauaʻi corroboration; public occurrence is island-level only. This evidence does not quantify current abundance or ecological effects.
Sources and further reading
- https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:828548-1
- https://efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=200014043
- https://www.worldfloraonline.org/taxon/wfo-0000582676/
- https://www.plantsofhawaii.org/search/Camellia%20sinensis
- https://hbs.bishopmuseum.org/publications/pdf/tr75.pdf
- https://editedimages.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/Imadaetal.2025Hawaiianvascularplants.xlsx
- https://doi.org/10.5479/si.32124043