468 



SYSTEMATIC BOTANY. 



with a mixture of prussian blue, turmeric, and gypsum. Several varieties 

 of Black and Green Teas are known in commerce. Thus of the former, we 

 have Bohea, Congou, Souchong, Pekoe, Caper, &c. ; of the latter, Hyson, 

 Hyson-Skin, Twankay, Imperial, Gunpowder, &.c. The finer varieties of 

 Tea are prepared from T. viridis. Some teas have a particular odour, some- 

 what resembling the flowers of the common Cowslip ; this is produced by 

 mixing with them the dried flowers of the sweet-scented olive ( Oleafragrans) . 

 Other teas are scented with the dried flowers of Chloranthus inconspicuus, 

 Aglaia odorata, &c. 



The cultivation of the Tea-plant is now being can-ied on with success by 

 the East-Indian Government in certain districts of the Himalayas. A large 

 quantity of Tea is also at the present time obtained from Assam. China, 

 however, is the great tea-producing country : in that part of the world, 

 nearly 4,000,000 acres of ground are devoted to it alone, and the total pro- 

 duce, at the present time, is probably not less than 2,600 millions of pounds. 

 In the United Kingdom, the consumption of Tea has increased from about 

 63,000,000 lbs. in 1856 to 100,000,000 lbs. in 1867. Tea owes its chief pro- 

 perties to the presence of a volatile oil, tannin, and the alkaloid already 

 noticed as a constituent of Kola-nuts (see Sterculia), called theine. Theine 

 is identical with caffeine, the alkaloid contained in Coffee, and guaranine, 

 the alkaloid of Guarana, and is closely allied to iheobt^omine, the alkaloid of 

 cocoa-seeds. Tea-leaves also contain about 6 per cent, of gluten, but this 

 is scarcely extracted in any amount by the oixlinary mode of making Tea. 

 It has been stated that Tea, besides its well-known stimulating and soothing 

 effects, is indirectly nutritive,— that is to say, the theine it contains has 

 the effect of preventing the waste and decay of the body, and any substance 

 that docs this necessarily saves food, and is thus indirectly nutritive ; but 

 Dr. Edward Smith has recently shown that, on the contrary, Tea increases 

 the bodily waste. 



Natural Order 35. Gtuttifeb^ oe Clusiaceje. — The Gam- 

 boge or Mangosteen Order. — Character. — Trees or shrubs, 

 sometimes parasitical, with a resinous juice. Leaves ( fy. 887) 



coriaceous, entire, sim- 

 Fir/. 887. pie, opposite, exstipulate. 



Flowers usually perfect, 

 sometimes unsexual by 

 abortion. Sepals 2, 4, 5, 

 6, or 8, imbricated, usually 

 persistent, frequently un- 

 equal and petaloid. Petals 

 hypogynous, equal in num- 

 ber to (Jiff. 887), or a 

 multiple of the sepals, 

 sometimes passing by 

 imperceptible gradations 

 into them. Stamens usu- 

 ally numerous, rarely few, 

 Fig. 887. Flowering stem and fruit of the Man- hvnofyvnnnq diqtinet nv 

 gOBteen Fl&ntiGarcimaMangostana). nypogynous, aistmcc, or 



monadelphous, or poly- 

 adelphous ; anthers adnate, not beaked, introrse or extrorse, open- 

 ing by a pore or transverse slit, 2-celled, or sometimes 1 -celled. 

 I}isk fleshy, or rarely with 5 lobes. Ovary superior, 1 or many- 

 celled ; style absent ; stigmas peltate or radiate {fig. 887) ; 

 placentas axile. Fruit dehiscent or indehiscent, 1 or many- 



