— 249 — 



article of Bontius ') (who died in Java in 1631). It was not before 1658, 

 when his manuscripts were edited by Piso, that tiiis commentator added 

 a supplementary note-), which witii somc compliance may be interpreted 

 to the effect that both sorts were tlien known, and, on the authority of a 

 friend personally acquainted with Japan, ascribed to a différent préparation 

 of the identical plant. This notice however has been calied into question 3) 

 and has given rise to a great deal of controversy concerning the problem 

 whether there existed one or two botanical species of tea. 



Kaempfer 4), who was the first to draw up a good description of the 

 tea plant (1712), admitted only one species which he calied Thea japo- 

 nensis. His diagnosis ran thus: ,,Frutex folio cerasi. flore roseo sylvestris, 

 ,,fructu unicocco, bicocco et ut plurimum tricocco". Then follows an ample 

 description with a very good picture. 



LiNNAEUS, in his Gênera Plantarum (1737), formed two gênera, Cû-//?^/- 

 lia and Thea, the latter corresponding to Kaempfer's description. In the 

 preceding chapter we gave his diagnoses in full; suffice it hère to repeat 

 that the main différence between both gênera should be that C. had united 

 stamens, a pluri-lobed fruit and a deciduous calyx, T. free stamens. a one- 

 lobed fruit and a permanent calyx. In the first édition of his Species plant- 

 arum (1753) he described Thea sinensis, the tea plant, as the type of the 

 latter genus. Hère he observed ^) that he had seen some flowers with 6 

 and some with 9 petals, and suggested the possibility of their belonging 

 to two différent species. Now, John Hill^) having published an account on 

 green and black tea in 1759, and, from an investigation of two herbarium 

 samples (one of which with short dark leaves, a dark-coloured extract and 

 6 petals, the other with larger paler leaves, a light-coloured extract and 9 

 petals) having drawn the inference that they represented two species, 

 LiNNAEUS agreed to this idea. Accordingly, in the second édition of his 

 Species Plantarum (1762) he adopted two species. Thea bohea"^), black 

 tea, with 6 petals, and Thea viridis, green tea, with 9 petals. (As a consé- 

 quence, the spécifie name sinensis had to fall into disuse.) 



') J. Bontius 1642, p. 95, 97. He records no characters but tlie leaves: „bellidis seu 

 „consolidae ininoris folia refert, cum parvis in ambitu incisuris." ' 



-) G. PiSO 1658; lib. VI, cap. 1, p. 87 (annotatio): „ . . . eadem (planta est), cujus 

 „decoctum Chinensibus The, laponensibus Tsia nomen audiat; licet horum Tsia ob 

 „majorem folioriim contritionem et coctionem, nigrum The appelletur. Unde fit, ut 

 „iaponensium Tsia gratioris utique sit saporis, majorisque efficaciae, ac altioris 

 „quoque pretii." (Often this note has, erroneousiy, been ascribed to BONTiUS himself.) 



3) W. Ten Rhyne (1678, p. XVII) dénies that there should exist any différence between 

 „The" and „Tsia": „Namque japonuni 7 'c/2/0 ac sinarum T/zf^ communia sunt nomina, 

 „quibus optima aeque ac vilissinia folia significantur; nigrum autem Thee n\.\n(\uz.m 

 „salteni ego, vidi; verum vilioris T'chio decoctio, quo pejor est, eo majorem 

 „flavedinem contrahit niagisve rufescit." 



") E. Kaempfer 1712; Fasc. III, p. 605. 



^) „Vidi flores in aliis hexapetalos, in aliis enneapetalos; an ejusdeni speciei judicent 

 „qui possunt vivam inspicere." — 1753, p. 515. 



6) J. HiLL, 1759, tab. 21. 



^) A name derived from the Bohea or Woo-ee niountains. 



