350 DR. SEEMANN’S SYNOPSIS OF THE 
I agree with Choisy, that there is only one species of the plant yielding the tea of com- 
merce, for which I adopt the name of Thea Chinensis given to it by Linnæus in the first 
edition of his *Species Plantarum, and afterwards sanctioned by Sims and others asa 
collective one for Thea Bohea, viridis and Assamica. The propriety of taking the name 
“ Ohinensis” may be open to discussion, since we have no wild specimens of Tea from 
China, but only from Upper Assam, and a Chinese tradition of great antiquity states 
that the Tea-plant was introduced from India by the Buddist priests, so that it is possible 
that we may term a species “ Chinese ” that is in reality ** East-Indian" in its origin, and 
thus furnish another instance of * lucus a non lucendo." Dr. Hooker, to whom I com- 
municated these doubts, thinks that the plant may yet be found wild in North-western 
China, and his intimate knowledge of the Flora of India renders that opinion of the 
utmost value. 
Respecting the varieties of Thea Chinensis, I think that they are supposed to be much 
more marked than they really are. There is indeed a vast difference between the narrow- 
leaved forms of what is called Thea Bohea in our gardens, and the broad-leaved specimens 
of the wild Tea of Assam (figured in our Plate LXI.) ; but the transition from Thea Bohea - 
to Thea viridis, and thence to Thea Assamica, is so gradual, that it is almost impossible to 
draw up any precise definition of these three great varieties. Besides, it must not be sup- 
posed that when we have furnished characters for these three principal varieties, our 
labours have terminated. As in all cultivated plants, there are minor varieties, and forms 
of the highest agricultural and commercial value, that claim our attention, and for the 
working up of which but limited materials are at present at hand. The belief so long 
entertained that Thea Bohea yielded the black, Thea viridis the green tea of commerce, has 
long been exploded; but a slight doubt seems still to linger in some quarters whether the 
fact that Thea Bohea suffers less from frost, and begins to put forth its young leaves later 
than Thea viridis, does not prove a specific difference between them. The reply to this 
is, that Thea viridis of the gardens does certainly begin to grow earlier than Thea Bohea, 
and therefore is apt to suffer more from night frost than Thea Bohea; but it does not 
follow that it must on that account be specifically distinct, as, according to the same rule, | 
we should have to make species of all the early and late sorts of our kitchen vegetables 
and of our fruit-trees *. | 
Species excluse : å 
Thea Assamica, affin. Chois. = P. yrenaria attenuata, | Thea imperialis, Hort.= Micromeria obovata, Bth. 
Seem. : Thea longifolia, Nois.= Camellia Sasanqua, Thunb. 
den amellia, Hoffmsg.— Camellia J aponica, Thea oleosa, Lour.— Camellia Sasanqua, Thunb. 
nn. 
Thea Sasanqua, Nois. = Camellia Sasanqua, Thunb. 
* For an interesting paper on the tea of co he Dirai 
xiv. p. 451 (1858). mmerce, by Charles Wach, see Ed. Otto's * Hamburger | 
