GENERA CAMELLIA AND THEA. 339 
Camellia and Thea in the * Transactions of the Horticultural Society of London," vol. vii. 
p. 519. The essential characters which he assigns to them respectively are as follows :— 
CAMELLIA, Linn. Tura, Kempf. 
Flowers axillary, sessile. Calyx inferior, of 7, 8, Flowers axillary, stalked. Calyx inferior, of 5 
or more deciduous imbricated scales, the inner deeply divided permanent roundish segments. 
ones the largest. Corolla of 5 petals. Styles Corolla of 5, 6, or 9 petals. Styles cohering at 
united nearly their whole length. Capsule fur- the base, dividing towards the point into three 
rowed, having as many cells as furrows, and one distinct bodies. Capsule 3-lobed, 3-celled. 
or two seeds in each. Seeds solitary. 
Here another characteristic feature of the two genera is pointed out, viz. that in 
Camellia the flowers are always sessile, while in Thea they are stalked, though it can 
hardly be admitted in the essential characters of the two genera. The styles in Camellia 
are said to be united nearly their whole length : that is certainly the case in all those 
species with which Booth was acquainted in 1830; but in my Camellia Hongkongensis 
they are entirely free. Applying his generic character to the Camelliacee known at that 
time, Booth followed Lindley’s suggestion, and transferred Camellia euryoides, Lindl., to 
Thea. According to that rule, he ought to have done the same with Camellia maliflora, 
Lindl. The fact that the latter was only accessible to him in a double state may partly 
be considered the reason why he failed to do so. 
The last author who has attempted to frame a character for the two genera under con- 
sideration is Choisy, in one of the most elaborate papers that have as yet appeared on the 
Whole order of Ternstræmiaceæ. It was published in 1855 in the ‘Transactions of the 
Natural History Society of Geneva.’ He defines Camellia and Thea thus :— 
CAMELLIA, Linn. l Tuza, Kempf. : 
Calyce à éstivation imbricative, sépales sur plu- Calyce simple, å un seul rang. Capsule déhiscente 
sieurs rangs se recouvrant comme des tuiles. dans tout sa hauteur. (Cloisons non séparées 
Capsule semi-déhiscente ; cloisons séparées en du placenta central. 
haut du placenta central. 
It does not appear to me that we are justified in saying the capsule of Camellia is semi- 
dehiscent, and its septa do not separate from the central placenta, and that the capsule of 
Thea is quite dehiscent, and the septa do not separate from the central placenta. The 
fact is, that in Thea the septa do at one time separate from the central placenta, and at 
another they do not. In normally developed capsules they generally do separate, Hence 
it follows that the dehiscence or semi-dehiscence cannot be regarded as a character of 
generic distinction between the two genera. : 
There is, however, one point which has been quite overlooked by all who have written 
on this subject, and which seems the more important as it is not one of degree. E 
examining the stamens, I was struck with the fact that there was m all Camellias m 
Theos, besides the outer series of monadelphous stamens of indefinite number, > ne 
series of free stamens, definite in number. With a little practice the outer ak of t = 
ens is easily removed, and the inner one, closely surrounding the ovary, lai vg Fe 
Camellia I found them to be double in number to that of the normal number of petals, 
å agreed i t I 
and in Thea equal to it. I may add, that in the latter respect Thea i es vn 
