— 252 — 



Tea", whereas a new plate has been added, representing „Bohea Tea" ') 

 Where did the author dérive it from? This is explaiiied on p 41 as 

 follows: ,,Tlie boliea Tea trees, now introdiiccd info mony hotanic gardens 

 „near London, exhibit very obvious varieties" the new picture shows 

 one of them. Still, green and bohea tea are one botanical species. 



WiLLDENOW however, who revised the 4^'' édition of Linnaeus' Species 

 plantarum (1799), retains the idea of this great botanist, so lie admits two 

 species, T. bohsa and T. viridis, only — he takes over Aiton's varieties of 

 bohea: laxa and slficta^)\ \n this way those poor iliegitimate créations of 

 the hortulanus of Kew hâve niade their entry in botanical literatiire. Hayne^) 

 not only retains the species T. bohea and T. viridis L. but even („ja, ich 

 erdreiste mich sogar ...."' he says) promotes the variety strlcta to a 

 third distinct species, and henceforth J^iea strlcta Hayne figures as such 

 in literature. His three pictures are excellent, it is true, but neither thèse 

 plates nor his descriptions'*) justify a séparation between three forms of 

 tea such as a superficial inspection of any China tea plantation would 

 hâve shown hini by the dozen ! 



Finally, we niay résume the green-and-black-tea problem in this way, 

 that our inquiry has shown us an endless controversy resting upon not 

 one Sound argument Nowadays we know to be sure, that any tea plant 

 may produce black tea if the leaves are allowed to ferment, and green tea 

 if fermentation is prevented. Still, the posslblllty remains, that the ancient 

 notion of a duplicate variety is founded on fact in so far as the Chinese, 

 either by tradition or because actually certain local types are speclally 

 eligible for the manufacture of green or black tea, may indeed hâve 

 used such types discriminatively. This view is entertained by Abel ^), 

 who in 1816—1817 travelled to Peking with the embassy of Lord 

 Amherst. Of course it will scarcely be possible to obtain reliable 



') G. Watt (1908, p. 213) says about the first plate: „by Assam planters (it) would 

 ,,doiibtless be cliaracterised as a hybrid"; about the second: „(it) would be viewed 

 ,,as the typical so-called Chinese plant." Thèse dénominations do not correspond 

 with the ternis used in Java! Cf. the sequel of this chapter. The first plate shows 

 acuminate bullate leaves, 8-9 cM. long; the second picture présents smooth leaves 

 without an acuminate top, 5-6 cM. long. 



^) Linnaeus — WiLLDENOW 1799, p. 1180. 



3) F. G. Hayne 1821; tab. 27 {Thea strlcta), 28 (bohea), 29 (viridis). 



■*) „T. stricto mit iânglich-ovalen und lânglich-umgekehrt-eyrunden Blâttern, geraden 

 Blattstielen und dreylappigen, birnformigen Friichten.' 

 „T. bohea mit umgekehrt-eyrunden Blâttern, aufwârts gebogenen Blattstielen und 

 • fast dreylappig-birnformigen Friichten." 



„T. viridis mit umgekehrt-eyrund-lânglichen Blâttern, geraden Blattstielen und 

 dreylappig-niedergedriickten Friichten." 



Besides, the branches of the first ,, species" are straight, those of the iatter two 

 are curved. The pétioles (an unimportant character) has specially been mentioned 

 in conséquence of a note of Willdenow (1799, p. 1180), who apparently regarded 

 them as specifically différent from C. japonica. 



") C. Abel 1818, p. 222: ,,From persons perfectly conversant with the Chinese method 

 ,,I learnt that either of the two plants will afford the black or green tea of the 

 „shops; but that the broad thin-leaved plant is preferred for making the green tea." 



