Tea Plant

The tea plant is an evergreen shrub whose leaves, buds and stems are harvested and processed into white, green, oolong, dark and black tea. It originates in the highlands spanning southwestern China, northern Myanmar and northeastern India, where genetic evidence shows Chinese small-leaf tea diverging from Assam tea roughly 22,000 years ago; the first written record of the plant's discovery and use dates to about 3,000 years ago in China. Its caffeine content, which gives the beverage its stimulant effect, evolved as a natural pesticide against herbivorous insects. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/