Abstract:

Yunnan area is the center of tea origination with abundant in tea germplasm resources enriching the genetic diversity, which plays in an important role in tea research. In this paper, according to the field investigation and document literature collection, the geographic distribution and morphological diversity of Yunnan wild tea resources were systematically illustrated and investigation. The results showed that: (1) Wild tea plants spreads widely in Yunnan, and they are distributed mainly in eight areas, including Xishuangbanna, Puer, Baoshan and so on. (2) Wild tea trees and cultivated tea trees usually differ markedly in morphology. (3) there lie 22 species and 2 varieties among wild tea plants, which demonstrate abundant morphological diversity. (4) Ecology destroy was the main causation which result in population depression of wild tea plants. So, some suggestions about Yunnan wild tea germplasms were put forward, including the exploration, collection conservation, protection, researches of bionomics and genetic diversity of rare and wild tea germplasms, which will promote the selection for new tea improved cultivars and provide a good material and technical basis for the sustainable development of tea industry.