ˈtea-plant
1. The plant from which tea is obtained, the tea-shrub: = tea n. 3.
| 1727–41 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Tea, The Tea plant affects valleys, and the feet of mountains, and a stony soil. 1770 Ellis in Phil. Trans. LX. 525 One of the first tea-plants that has been produced from seed in this kingdom. 1888 J. Paton in Encycl. Brit. XXIII. 97/2 The tea-plant is cultivated in China as an evergreen shrub. |
2. Applied to various other plants: see tea n. 6.
| 1798 Monthly Mag. Mar. 211 The tea plant of St. Domingo; Capraria biflora,..the leaves of which are employed..for the same purpose as the tea of China and Japan. 1864 Athenæum 10 Dec. 788/2 Leptospermum, the tea-plant of Australia. 1866 Treas. Bot. 701 L[ycium] barbarum..is commonly known as the Tea plant. 1884 [see tea-tree 3]. 1903 A. C. P. Haggard Sporting Yarns 136 (Canada) The long grass and Labrador tea-plants on the banks. |