206 
The history of Capraria commences in 1689, when C. biflora 
was mentioned by Paul Herman* and Jacob Breynef as a rare 
plant cultivated in botanic gardens in Holland. Herman gave 
it the name Capraria Curassavica, the generic name indicating 
that the plant was eaten by goats, and the trivial that it was 
a native of the island of Curacao. Breyne called it Gratiolae 
affinis frutescens Americana, foliis Agerati, seu Veronicae erectae 
majoris. 
Commelin{ published a description and coloured figure of 
the plant in 1697, and mentioned that in 1690 a box of the 
dried leaves prepared in the manner of tea came into his hands. 
This had been taken from a French prize brought from the 
West Indies. Characteristic woodcuts were given by Plukenet 
in 1691,§ and Herman in 1698;|| the former proposed the 
specific phrase Lysimachiae purpureae affinis Americana pro- 
cumbens, eshte? Vernae frutescentis, folio singulare glabro. 
ecies was known in Curacao as Cabritten-Kruid, 
Cabritien- Kruidt, Cabritta and Cavritta, the last being the 
Portuguese form of the name 
The fact that C. biflora yielded a kind of tea was known in 
Jamaica at least as early as 1680. Barham, writing in 1711, 
stated that ‘‘ the virtue of this herh:4; = hath been oe 
with us above thirty years.”§ It cannot, how ever, have 
in general use, judging from Sloane’s remark in T707:..:1 Why 
some give it the name of Thea, I cannot imagine.’’** 
Labat,+7 who visited Guadeloupe and Martinique in 1696 
found “wild tea” growing in abundance, and gave a long 
account of the plant, its preparation and ‘use; his description 
leaves no doubt that it was Capraria biflora. He thought that 
it was identical with China tea, a belief which survived in the 
West Indies to the middle of the eighteenth century, when 
N. J. Jacquin stated that he could hardly convince the colonists 
to the contrary.{{ 
A second species was ‘described by Feuillée in 1714 under 
the name Capraria peruviana, Agerati foliis absque pediculis. 
This grew on islands of the river Rimac at Lima, Peru. Feuillée 
stated that it first became known in Peru in 1709, and that it 
possessed the same properties as East Indian tea, so that the 
Ret ee soon abandoned the use of the latter. §§ 
us adopted the generic name Capraria, and at first 
somunaad | the Peruvian species as being the same as the West 
* Herman, Parad. Bat. Pi _ 319 (1689). 
+ Breyne, Prodr. ii. p. 54 (16 
¢ Commelin, Hort. i. p. 79, t. geome 
$e: Phytogr. t. 98 f. 4 (1691); Abn, p- 237 (1696). 
i eens , Parad. Bat. p. 110, t. 110 (169 
Barkan: Hortus Americanus, p. 187 fineay3 Dict. Nat. Biogr. iii. 
p. 187. 
** emg Nat. Hist. Jamaica i. ve 210 (1707). 
tt Labat, Voy. i. part 2, p. 340 (1724). 
It N. J. Jacq uin, Hist. p. 182 (1763). 
§§ Feuiliée,-Obs. li. p. 764, t. 48 (1714). 
