NAT. ORDER, 



Columniferce. 



CAMELIA JAPONICA. JAPAN ROSE TREE, 



Class mil. PoLYANDRiA. Order I. Monogynia. 



Gen. Char. Corolla, six or nine petalled. Calyx, five or six leav- 

 ed. Capsule, tricoccous. 



Spe. Char. Leaves, eliptical-oblong, rugosus. 



The Camelia Japonica is an evergreen tree, rising in favorable 

 situations, from twenty to forty feet in height, much branched, and 

 covered with a rough, dark, redish bark : the leaves are eliptical, 

 or lanceolate, entire, alternate, obtusely serrated, veined, and placed 

 on short foot-stalks ; the calyx is small, smooth, persistent, and 

 divided into five obtuse segments; x\\e flowers are of a scarlet red, 

 often two or three together, and placed on sejjarate peduncles ; the 

 corolla vai-ies in the size and number of its petals, but are usually 

 six, and of an irregular roundish form ; the /llamenfs are short, very 

 numerous, and inserted at the base of the corolla ; the anthers are 

 large and yellow; the ger7nen is roundish or triangular ; the style 

 is trifid, spreading at the top, and furnished with simple stigmas; 

 the capsule is three celled, opening, and contains three oblong brown 

 seeds. 



This beautiful t7-ee is a native of Japan, m which country alone 

 it is f Mind to flourish, and grows wild by the side of fences and 

 in neglected fields, It was formerly cultivated for culinary purpo- 

 ses, but more recently as a prominent and very useful article in 

 the manufiicturing of tea, and for which purpose it is very exten- 

 sively employed. All the various kinds of tea imported into this 



