Have a tea ...

Scientific name: Camellia sinensis

The leaves and leaf buds are processed for making tea. Tea is native to Southeast Asia and now cultivated all across the world as a commercial crop. This evergreen shrub is trimmed suitably to maintain cultural and harvesting operations in tea gardens. The yellow-white flowers around 3 cm in dia with 7-8 petals. For me it was an enigma as a young student, as to how the drink is drawn out of a plant! First time i saw the plant during my study trip to Ooty arranged by my college, way back in 1986 as a graduate student. That time the green carpeted Nilgiri hills have mesmarised me and i fell in love with the hill station. During December 3rd 2011, along with my colleagues i visited a tea factory at Coonoor (Tamil Nadu) to buy tea and then ventured to feel the tea garden. I took this photograph, which was solitary in the axil of leaves, refreshing me as a cup of tea!