344 DR. SEEMANN'S synopsis OF THE 



Camellia Sasanqua, Thunb. Fl. Japon. p. 273. t. 30 (1784) ; Cav. Diss. vi. p. 306. 1. 160 (1790) ; Staunt. 

 Embas. to China, ii. p. 466 cum ic. (1797) ; Bot. Reg. t. 12 (1815), t. 1091 (1827) ; Lodd. Bot. Cab. 

 1. 1275 (1827) ; Booth in Hort. See. Trans, vii. p. 521 (1830) ; Sieb. et Zucc. Fl. Jap. p. 158. t. 83 

 (1835-44) ; Chois. in Uim. See. Geneve, xiv. i. p. 147 (1855) ; Seem, in Bonpl. vi. p. 278 (1858). 



Sasangua, Kaempf. Delineat. plant. Japon. (MSS. in Mus. Brit.) fig. 25 ; Amoen. Exot. p. 853, ex parte 



(1712). 



Camellia oleifet-a, Abel, Journ. in China, p. 174 cum ic, App. p. 363 (1818) ; Lindl. in Bot. Reg. t. 942 

 (1825) ; Lodd. Bot. Cab. t. 1065 (1825) ; Booth in Trans. Hort. Soc. vii. p. 524 (1830) ; Chois. in 

 Mem. Soc. Geneve, xiv. i. p. 14? (1855) ; Seem, in Bonpl. vi. p. 278 (1858). 



Thea oleosa. Lour. Fl. Cochinch. p. 339 (1790) ; Chois. in Mem. Soc. Geneve, xiv. i. p. 156 (1855). 



Thea longifolia, Nois., et Thea Sasanqua, Nois., teste Steudl. 



Nomina vernacul. Nomen Cochinchinense, teste Loureiro, " Yev/-cha." Nomen Chinense, teste Abel, 

 " Tscha-Yeoa," teste Loureiro, " Che-deau," et teste Staunton, " Cha-whaw." Nomen Japonicum, 

 teste Siebold, " Sasankwa." Nomen Japon.-chinense, teste Siebold, " Tsja-bai." 



/3. var./ore semi-pleno, Lindl. Bot. Reg. t. 12 (1815), t. 1091 (1827) ; Lodd. Bot. Cab. 1. 1275 (1827). 



Geogr. Dish: Japan {Tliunberg in Mus. Brit.! Siebold). China, Prov. of Kiangsi {Sir George Staunton 

 in Mus. Brit. !) ; Prov. of Kwangton [Sir G. Staunton in Mus. Brit. ! Abel, Loureiro) ; Chusan 

 [Dr. Cantor in Herb. Bth. !) ; Loo-choo (C. Wright, n. 28 !). Cultivated in European gardens. 



Camellia Sasanqua, Thunb., and C. oleifera, Abel, are inmost works regarded as distinct 

 species. Tliey are here united, because I could not find a single character by which they 

 could be distinguished from each other. I have also added as a synonym the doubtful 

 Thea oleosa of Loureiro, which, from the description given by its author, agrees tolerably 

 well with the old C. Sasanqua. I am the more convinced that this identification is 

 correct, as there are only two Camelliaceous plants that yield seeds sufficiently oUy to be 

 used for economic purposes, viz. Camellia Sasanqua and C. drupifera ; and Loureiro states 

 emphatically that his Thea oleosa yields an oil and grows wild in the province of Canton, 

 — a fact fuUy agreeing with what we know of C. Sasanqua. What is preserved in the 

 Parisian Museum as the original specimen of Thea oleosa. Lour., is Thea Chinensis, var. 

 Bohea. The latter plant (I mean T. Chinensis, var. Bohea) was well known to Loureiro, 

 and named by him Thea Canloniensis ; and, as it neither yields an oil nor grows wild in 

 Canton, I do not think that we are far wrong in assuming that the specimen preserved at 

 Paris as Thea oleosa has obtained that name by a misplacing of the label, and that the 

 genuine specimens of Thea oleosa. Lour., like those of Camellia drupifera. Lour., and 

 Thea Cochitichinensis, Lour., have been lost. The genuine C. Sasanqua has always white 

 flowers ; and when Ksempfer, who first brought it into notice, attributed pink ones to it, 

 he undoubtedly confounded another species with it (viz. Thea maliJtora= Camellia mali- 

 Jlora, Lindl.), which, until Lindley pointed it out as distinct, was always regarded as a 

 variety of C. Sasanqua. Siebold and Zuccai-ini, in their ' Plora Japonica,' still kept up 

 this old error. There are no specimens of C. Sasanqua in Ksempfer's herbarium ; but in a 

 collection of manuscript drawings of that author, preserved in the British Museum, there 

 is a figure of his ' Sasanqua,' which represents the genuine C. Sasanqua of Thunberg. 

 (Conf. Thea malijlora. Seem.) 



5. C. DETJPiFERA ; arborea ; ramulis petiolisque puberulis, foliis lanceolatis vel ovato- 

 lanceolatis longe acuminatis, subtus venis tenuibus distinctis, floribus odoratis, petalis 



