— 256 ~ 



Finally, from § 8 we quote the following: 



„Besides, there exist two more varieties, equally exhibiting red and 

 brown characteristics, nevertheless being inferior. They may be discerned 

 thus: The first one has a rounding, sallow leaf that leans almost flat against 

 the stem; the leaf itself is hard and the bush is unsightly. The other one 

 may be distinguished by its shrubby appearance and by its small leathery 

 boat-shaped (folded) ") leaflets. Both thèse inferior varieties ought to be 

 carefully eradicated, as they do not yieid a product of any importance . /' 



Thus, we observe that Jacobson has already recorded several varieties 

 of China tea. — Gordon, in his itinerary^). mentions two forms: 



„Some of the shrwbs scarcely rose to the height of a cubit [50 cM.] 

 ,,above the ground, and those were so very bushy that a hand could not 

 „be thrust between the branches. They were also very thickly covered 

 „with leaves, but thèse were very small, scarcely above ^U i"ch [18 mM. ] 

 „in length. In the same bed were other plants with stems four feet in 

 „height, far less branchy and with leaves 1' 2 te> 2 inches [37-50 mM. ] 

 ,,in length." 



Fortune, who as we saw, went three times to China, and at every 

 turn for some years consecutively, has very much contributed towards 

 our knowledge of the Chinese tea plant. I hâve already mentioned. 

 his opinion that the variety cultivated in the South (Can-ton) is Thea 

 bohea, in the northern districts (Fu-chow, Ning-po and environments) 

 Thea viridis, in the „Bohea"-mountains a modificated y/rMs-type. As 

 to the very insignificant différence between the latter form and the genuine 

 viridis, Fortune says: „the Woo-e plant showed less inclination to throw 

 „out branches than the Hwuy-chow one, and its leaves were sometimes 

 „rather darker and more finely serrated."^) 



Tichomirow*) describes the tea variety cultivated on the western 

 banks of the Po-yang lake as having leaves of médium size, i.e. 50-80 mM. 

 in length and 25-30 mM. in width, broad, lanceolate and with an obtuse 

 apex. From his photographie reproduction I could ascertain the number 

 of denticules to be 25-30, the relative number being 40 in this form.^) 



') This variety is presumably identical with iiiy rigida-type, described in this paper's 

 second division. 



^) G. J. Gordon 1835, p. 103. 



') R. Fortune 1852, p. 284; 1853, p. 244. 



*) W. A. TiCHOMiROW 1892, p. 451. 



") Tichomirow (loc. cit.) mentions another ,,tea plant" growing near Ning-po, and 

 widely divergent from the former, common type. Its leaf is 4-5 cM. long and 2 cM. 

 wide, with a very long acuminate top. From his reproduction of the plant it is 

 however apparent that an error has occurred and that this is nothing but Camellia 

 rosiflora HooK. The spécimen from which this picture was made is contained in 

 tiie Berlin herbarium; one and the same sheet exhibits a twig of China tea and the 

 afore mentioned C. rosiflora (with fruit); its label, in Tichomirow's hand-writing, 

 reads like this: ,.TIiea chinensis SiMS, Nin-Bo-Fu (Ning-po), ieg. Dr. Faber, 2.4. 

 1891." So TiCHOMiROU' has apparently got this spécimen from E. Faber, the well- 

 known minister-botanist at Shang-hai, and not collected it himseif. Accordingiy, the 

 Berlin herbarium contains several samples of C. rosiflora from Ning-po collected by 



