THE 



THE 



leaves, composed of many linear fleshy leaflets, 

 which are tor the most part entire, arid end in 

 acute points: the flowers are of a yellowish 

 white colour; they appear m July, and are suc- 

 ceeded by small angular capsules, n ah one small 

 oblong seed in each, which ripens in August. 

 It is a native of France about Paris, and of Spain. 



The sixth species has a thick tibrous root ; 

 the stems taper, rising tbiee feet high : the 

 leaves like those of Columbine : the Bowers in 

 large terminating panicles. It is a native of 

 Scania, Switzerland, &c. 



There are varieties with a green stalk and 

 while stamens, and with a purple stalk and 

 stamens. There arc other sorts that may be 

 cultivated for variety. 



Culture. — AH the sorts are readily increased 

 by parting the roots, and planting them out in 

 the autumn when the stems decay, or in the 

 spring before the new ones are sent forth, in 

 the strongest where they are to remain, and the 

 a eaker ones in nursery-row s for further grow th : 

 they may also be raised from seeds, which 

 should be sown in a bed or border in the spring ; 

 when the plants rise, they should be kept clean, 

 and be planted out where they are to remain, in 

 the following autumn. They afford variety in 

 the borders, and other parts of ornamented 

 grounds. 



THEA, a genus furnishing plants of the ex- 

 otic shrubby find. 



It belongs to the class and order Pohjandria 

 Monoeynia, (Trigynia,) and ranks in the 

 natural order of Comnmiferae. 



The characters are: that the perianth is five- 

 parted, very small, flat, inferior, permanent : 

 segments roundish, obtuse, equal : the corolla 

 has six petals, (three to nine) roundish, con- 

 cave, large; of which two are exterior and a lit- 

 tle smaller : the stamina have numerous fila- 

 ments, (more than two hundred) filiform, 

 shorter than the corolla, inserted into the re- 

 ceptacle : anthers cordate, fastened bv the back : 

 the pistilium is a globular-trigonal germ : stvJes 

 three, united at the base, at bottom erect, 

 tloeely approximating, and as it were united 

 into one; above the stamens diverging, some- 

 what recurved at the top, after flowering sepa- 

 rated to the verv base, rellexed' at the top : 

 stigmas simple: the pericarpium is a tricocoous 

 capsule, trilocular, gaping at the top, in three 

 directions : the -eeds solitary, globose, angular 

 on the inward side. 



The species is Thea, Tea-Tree. 



It is commonly about the height of a man. 

 It is described indeed by different authors, as 

 varying much in size, from that just mentioned 

 to thirty and even two hundred feet. Probably 

 it may attain the height of thirty feet or more 



when left to itself; but in general the tree? are 

 cut down periodically, that they may make 

 stronger shoots, and therefore are seldom seen 

 to be above live or six feet high. The trunk is 

 branching and round : the branches alternate or 

 vague, snffi-h, inclining to an ash-colour, but 

 reddish toward- the COO: the leaves alternate, 

 elliptic, smooth, glossy, of a firm texture, 

 bluntly serrate except near the base, blunt and 

 for the most part slightly emarginatc at the end, 

 veined on the under side, on very short petioles, 

 round and gibbous beneath, flatfish and slightly 

 channelled above : the stipules to the I 

 none: peduncles axillary, alternate, single, 

 curved, one-flowered, incrassate, having at the 

 base a single stipule or braete, which u awl- 

 shaped, erect, elliptic, obtusely serrate, with 

 the edges between the teeth recurved : the co- 

 rolla white, varying in the number and size of 

 the petals : the stamens, according to Loureiro, 

 inserted rather into the base of the corolla than 

 into the receptacle. 



In respect to the varieties, Martyn has con- 

 sidered them all as forming one species, in 

 which, he is, he says, supported by the best au- 

 thorities. " K.a;mpfer," says he, " attributes their 

 difference to soil, culture, age of the leaves, 

 and method of curing them. .Mr. Ellis directly 

 asserts that the Green and Bohea Tea are one and 

 the same species ; and that it is the nature of 

 the soil, the culture, and manner of gathering 

 and drying the leaves, that makes the difference; 

 and a Green Tea-tree planted in the Bohea coun- 

 try will produce Bohea Tea, and the contrary. 

 So also Sir George Staunton -ays ; every infor- 

 mation received concerning the Tea plant con- 

 curred in affirming, that its qualities depended 

 upon the soil in which it grew, •„ I the age at 

 which the leaves were plucked off the tn 

 well as upon the management of them after- 

 wards; Linnaeus, it is well known, distinguished 

 tv. o species of Thea ; th* Bohea with six-pet 

 flower-, and the ViriUs or Green with nine- 

 petalled flowers : but it is now well ascertained 

 that the number of petals is very uncertain ; and 

 Dr. Lettsom informs us that he has examined 

 several hundred flower- both from the Bohea and 

 Green countries, and thai their botanical el, 

 iii- have always appeared uniform. In the cata- 

 logue of the royal botanic garden al Kcw, two 

 varieties of Thea Bohea are given, 

 by the leaves; namely, Laxaor Broad-leaved 

 with elhptic-oblong wrinkled leavt - ; and Stricta, 

 or Narrow-leaved lei, with lancei late flat ]< . 

 The Bohea Tea-trees now introduced ii many 

 botanic gardens near London, exhibit 

 varieties : the leaves are of a d lour, 



and not so deeply serrated ; and the -uilk is usually 

 of a darker colour : but the botanical characters 



