台灣山茶係指台灣特有的一種野生茶樹，是茶樹育種上之重要種原。台灣山茶原生於台灣本島中、南以及東部，但其野生族群正在急速縮減中。分類學上，台灣野生的山茶植物一直被處理為茶(Camellia sinensis var. sinensis) 或阿薩姆茶(C. sinensis var. assamica) 的變種，不過我們最近形態學上的研究顯示台灣山茶可與上述兩個分類群明顯區隔。在本研究中我們提出分子學上的証據以進一步確認台灣山茶的分類地位。本次樣品涵蓋所有台灣山茶的野生族群以及十九個茶與阿薩姆茶的樣品。我們分析了核DNA 中RPB2 基因的introns 12-16 以及23 二個片段，利用最大簡約法與鄰近連接法來分析，結果顯示分佈於台灣不同地區的野生山茶係一單源的分類群。參考遺傳距離之比較，以及先前所做的數值分類分析，我們確認台灣山茶應處理為一個獨立的種。在此我們提出一個新的組合，將台灣山茶之學名定為C. formosensis (Masamune et Suzuki) M. H. Su, C. F. Hsieh et C. H. Tsou。
The endemic ‘Taiwanese wild tea’ represents an invaluable natural resource for the tea industry. The taxon is distributed in the central, southern and eastern regions of Taiwan with populations shrinking dramatically in the past decade. Taxonomically, it has long been treated as a lower taxon either under Camellia sinensis var. sinensis or C. sinensis var. assamica. Nevertheless, our recent morphological study indicated that this taxon is different from the other two taxa. In this report, we provide molecular evidence for reassessing its systematic status. Samples representing all the wild populations that are available in Taiwan were sequenced along with samples from the other two taxa at the introns 12-16 and 23 of the RPB2 gene of nuclear DNA. Phylogenetic analysis recovered a monophyletic group of ‘Taiwanese wild tea’ well separated from the other taxa. In addition, genetic distances and previous phenetic analyses all supported the identity of this species. A new combination of C. formosensis (Masamune et Suzuki) M. H. Su, C. F. Hsieh et C. H. Tsou is proposed herein
