110 ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE BOTANY OF [ Thea. 
that they were distinct; and as all the observations were made in Japan, it is pro- 
bable they all three only saw one species cultivated there: as there is reason for 
believing, that the opinion of Linneus that two species of Thea yield the teas of com- 
merce, is the more correct. 
Dr. Abel, when passing through the tea country, had little doubt of there being two 
species of tea-plant; but he could not at the time define the character, and was 
unfortunate in losing his specimens in the shipwreck of the Alceste. But he mentions 
that the plants from the black and green tea-districts differed in the form, colour, and 
texture of their leaves; those of the green tea being larger, thinner, and of a lighter 
colour than those of the black, though growing in the same soil : these differences he 
also observed in a large plantation near Macao. Dr. Hooker, in the Botanical Magazine, 
t. 3148, has given the characters of the two species. Thea viridis, which is the species 
figured, he describes as “a large, strong-growing, almost hardy, plant, with spreading 
branches ; its leaves three to five inches long, very broadly lanceolate, pale green, sin- 
gularly waved, with the margin reflexed ; the flowers large, solitary, mostly confined to 
the upper axil. These appear in autumn, six weeks or two months earlier than those 
of T. Bohea, which is of smaller size, with remarkably erect stiff branches ; leaves not 
above half or two-thirds the size of the former, perfectly flat, more coriaceous, of a 
dark green, bearing in the axils of numerous leaves two or three flowers, which are 
smaller, and have a slight fragrance ; and are in perfection during winter. This plant 
cannot withstand the frosts of an English climate.” 
Mr. Reeves, whose opinions, from his long residence in China, and attention to 
subjects of natural history, are entitled to the greatest weight, is the most recent author 
who has referred to this subject; and he expresses his surprise ‘‘ that any person who 
has been in China, or, indeed, any one who has seen the difference in the colour of the 
infusions of black and greea tea, could suppose for a moment that they were the produce 
of the same plant, differing only in the mode of curing; particularly as they do not 
etow in the neighbourhood of each other.” (Loudon’s Gard. Mag., v. ix. p. 713.) To this 
opinion, it will be seen, he still adheres, as in a letter with which I have been favoured, 
he informs me that he believes that the Thea viridis of the gardens is the plant from 
which the green tea of commerce is prepared, and that the plant which produces the 
black tea of commerce, as souchong, congou, &c., is not so common in England. Both 
may be seen in great perfection in the Messrs. Loddige’s rich and extensive nursery- 
grounds at Hackney,where a green-tea plant has lived for many years in the open air. The 
first impression on seeing them, is that of surprise at their ever having been confounded; 
as nothing can be more distinct, than the large, membranous, light green, wavy leaf, with 
large and irregular serratures, and straggling habit of the green-tea plant, from the smaller, 
flat, thick and coriaceous, dark green leaf, with small and even serratures, and erect 
port of the black tea. Both plants have been figured in Loddige’s Bot. Cab. t. 226 and 
227, and the characters well given, as also in the above extract from Dr. Hooker. I 
would only add, that the flowers, though commonly, are not always single in the axils 
of 
