— 233 



existing between closely allied species are also to be found between the 

 varielies or the individiials of one species, altliough in a lesser degree. 



Besides, I wanted to examine the chance of finding allied species that 

 might be of some use for sélection purposes; perhaps some mightbeused 

 as tea yielding plants, perhaps they might serve for artificial crossing or 

 for stumps in grafting experiments, etc. 



Such were my reasons for entering upon systematica! territory, and 

 certainly I do not aim at writing a nionography of the genus; nevertheless, 

 my results may as well be published, to epitomize the great progress of 

 the knowledge of this group during the jast fifteen years. 



First of ail we shail hâve to fix the name of our genus, whether 

 Camellia or Thea, as an unsettled controversy exists on this point. 

 LiNNAEUs published both names in 1737, having borrowed the latter from 

 Kaempfer; he theii knew only two species (japonica and Sasanqiia) of 

 the former genus, whereas the tea plant was at that time the sole représen- 

 tative of the genus Thea. His diagnoses however were based upon a very 

 defective material, and as the botanists of the IQ»'' century became acquainted 

 with more related species, they gradually and universaliy got convinced 

 that the différences between both genen were very artificial so that their 

 séparation could not longer be upheld. The only difficulty is, which name 

 ought the united genus to bear? 



LiNNAEUS, in the first édition of his „Genera plantarum" (1737) •), 

 gave the foUowing description: 



(Polyandria Monogynia) 

 Thea. Kaempf. 



Cal. : Perianthiiim sexpartitum, 

 minimum, planum: foliolis rotundis, 

 obtusis, persistentibus. 



Cor.: Petala sex, subrotunda, 

 concava, aequalia, magna. 



Stam.: Filamenta numerosa (du- 

 centa circiter), filiformia, corollâ 

 breviora. Antherae simplices. 



PiST. : Germen globosotrigonum. 

 Stylus subulatus, longitudine sta- 

 minum. Stigma triplex 



Fer.: Capsula ex tribus globis 

 coalita, trilocularis, apice trifariam 

 dehiscens. 



Sem. : Solitaria, globosa, intror- 

 sum angulata. 



( Monade Iphia Polyandria) 

 Camellia. Tsubaki Kaempf. jap.850. 



Cal.: Perianthium polyphyllum, 

 subrotundum, imbricatum, sqaamis 

 subrotundis, internis gradatim ma- 

 joribus, concavis, deciduis. 



Cor.: Petala quinque, verticaliter 

 ovata, basi coalita. 



Stan[.: Filamenta numerosa, erecta 

 interne coalita in coronam stylo 

 ampliorem, supernè libéra, corollâ 

 breviora. Antherae simplices. 



PiST. : Ge/-/72^/z subrotundum. .S^'- 

 lus subulatus, longitudine staminum. 

 Stigma acutum, reflexum. 



Per.: Capsula turbinata, lignosa, 

 sulcis aliquot exarata. 



Sem.: Nuclei tôt, quot striae cap- 

 sulae subrotundae, seminibus mino- 

 ribus saepe repletae. 



') C. LiNNAEUS 1737, p. 154, resp. 208. 



