108 ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE BOTANY OF [ Ternstreemiacea. 
at t. 256 of Dr.Wallich’s magnificent work, Plante Asiatice Rariores. The genus Thea, 
which is itself referred by some botanists to Camellia, is almost exclusively confined to 
China and Japan, and some of the neighbouring islands; but consisting chiefly of 
cultivated plants, it is difficult to ascertain the native country of the genus. . With 
respect to the distribution of the other genera of this order; Cleyera and Eurya 
were both thought peculiar to China; but of the former, the variety Wallichiana 
of C. ochnacea has been found in Nepal, the other variety Kempferiana, is figured 
in Sir Joseph Banks’s plates of Kempfer’s plants; and C. Japonica, in 
Kempfer’s own work, at p. 774. So also Ewrya, of which the two first known species 
were found, the one in Japan, figured by Thunberg, tab. 25; and the other in 
China, figured in Dr. Abel’s Journey, p. 378, has also afforded several Himalayan 
species, of which E. acuminata is figured at tab. 24 of the present work, occurring 
at an elevation of 6,500 feet, in 30° of N. latitude, near pines, and among oaks and 
thododendrons ; the rest of the species extend along the Himalaya, in Kemaon, Nepal, 
and the mountains of Silhet and Pundua. Species are also found in both the Indian 
and Malayan peninsulas, as well as in the island of Penang. Dr.Wallich’s new genus 
Anneslea (Pl. As. Rar. t. 5), allied to Cleyera, is found at Moulmein. The genera 
Saurauja, Gordonia, and Cochlospermum, are. divided between India and America. 5S. 
Nepalensis (Pl. As. t. 148) extends as far north as Eurya acuminata, but is found at 
lower elevations, as about Sahunsadhara, near the Deyra Doon, whence it extends 
with S. fastigiata (Pl. As. t.178) to Kemaon and Nepal. The other Asiatic species are 
found in Silhet, Penang, and Java, and the American species in Mexico. Cochlospermum, 
of which one species is found in Merico and Brazil, has another, which is found in all 
the ‘hilly parts of India. This, C. gossypium, D.C. (Bombar gossypium of authors) 
Dr.Wight has figured (Suppl. Hooker’s Fl. Exot. P|. xviii.) from a drawing made in the 
“Peninsula; Dr. Roxburgh describes it as common in the Circar Mountains; I have seen 
it. in abundance in Bundlecund, on the hills round and near Adjigurh and Kallinjur, 
as well as on those near Hurdwar and the Kheree Pass. The genus Gordonia, of which 
species exist in Jamaica, as well as in Virginia and Carolina, has also one species, 
G. Wallichii, in Nepal, Silhet, and Chittagong; and others in the Malayan Peninsula. 
Several other plants from the Malayan Peninsula have been referred, but all with doubt, 
to the genus Zernstremia, from which the order is named, and of which the species 
are found in the warm parts of America. 
_ The properties, with the exception of those of tea, are not well known of the plants 
of this family. The leaves of the tea-plant, owing to the tannin and gallic acid which 
they contain, are tonic and astringent, while the fragrant volatile principle which 
they likewise contain, makes them act as ‘stimulants, and be injurious to some 
eonstitutions ; though affording a highly grateful and refreshing beverage to the gene- 
rality of people. The leaves of Thea Cochinchinensis are likewise used to make a warm 
and diluent beverage. The seeds of the common tea-plants contain much oil, but it 
is expressed only from those of 7". oleosa, and used in Canton and Macao for many 
economical 
