CHAPTER V. 



The species Camellia theifera (Griff.) Dyer. 



The history of our botanical knowledge of the plant that yieldsthetea 

 of commerce, présents such a picture of ignorance, confusion and arbitrariness, 

 that it has deterred many a botanist from a thorough critical revision of 

 literature. if nothwithstanding I hâve attempted to carry out ^/z/s investigation 

 and to bring it to a close, I cannot say as niuch of the systematical side 

 of the question. Herbarium material, especially the tea spécimens of older 

 collections, contain Chinese forms nearly exclusively; authentic samples of 

 genuine Assam tea are extreniely rare. On the other hand, my investigations 

 on the living plant had almost exclusively been executed on Assam types, 

 and hence my expérience of Chinese forms was very restricted. Moreover, 

 even my living material was not pure indigenous, at ail events there is a 

 big chance that it came from seed gardens mixed to some degree with 

 China or hybrid types. I felt, therefore, very uncertain when placed before 

 the necessity of re-determining herbarium spécimens of tea, and hâve in 

 the majority of cases abstained from adjudicating varietal names. I hope, 

 however, that my future study of the tea plant, its Chinese représentatives 

 included, will enable me to hâve a better view over the forms of this 

 species than I hâve now. 



Hence the review of literature should be considered as the main point in 

 this chapter, whereas my systematical conclusions are of a provisional nature. 



When looking over the ancient botanical papers on tea up to + 1825, 

 we are struck by the fact that materially one question is the subject of 

 endless controversy, viz. the alleged botanical diversity of green and black tea. 



The existence of tea, ,,herba chia" or ,,cha", was known to the 

 botanists of Europe since a remote period '), but the plant that yielded 

 that famous herb remained a long time obscure. The mysteriousness in 

 which the Chinese and Japanese systematically wrapped their country, 

 and probably to an equal degree, the quaint embellishing exaggerations 

 occurring in the narratives of the European navigators, thèse causes jointly 

 gave birth to the strangest ideas concerning cultivation and manufacture 

 and about the tea plant itself. The first samples of prepared tea are reported 

 to hâve been brought to Bantam (Java) by the Dutch E. 1 Company, as 

 early as 1610; in Europe it was introduced about 1635. it is remarkable 

 that at that time the existence of black and green tea was probably unknown, 

 as would appear from the absence of any mention of this kind in the 



•) According to Watt (1908, p. 211), the authors Ramusio (1545) and Gasfar Da Cruz 

 (1560) already mentioned chiai or dm, and Maffeius (1588) has equally some 

 remarks on the beverage chia. 



