I.] IIYPERICINE^:. 131 



A Natural Order (not European) allied to the ITypericums 

 Ternstromiacese includes the Tea shrub (Thea chinensis), the 

 dried leaves of which we import as " Tea " in enormous quanti- 

 ties from China and, of late years, from India. The original 

 culture of tea was confined to China, where it has been in use 

 from remote antiquity ; tradition representing it as having been 

 introduced to human notice in fabulous times by a monkey. It 

 is not, however, known in the wild state in China, though it is 

 found native in the jungles of North-Eastern India. From the 



FIG. 90. Tea shrub (Then chinensis). Reduced. 



cultivated native Indian variety, and from Chinese plants intro- 

 duced into India, large quantities of Tea are now prepared. 

 The total import of Tea into the United Kingdom in 1886 ex- 

 ceeded 230,000,000 Ibs., 178,000,000 Ibs. being entered for home 

 use. In the year 1666 Tea was sold in England at 6os. per 

 pound. 



Black and green Tea may be prepared from any of the varie- 

 ties of the Tea plant by peculiar methods of drying ; the leaves 

 which are intended for green Tea being dried more rapidly than 

 those destined for black. Inferior kinds of green are artificially 

 coloured. " Brick Tea," used in Central Asia, is made from 

 common kinds and refuse, mixed with bullocks' blood, pressed 



K 2 



