274 THE BOOK OF USEFUL PLANTS 



soon, if ever, the business men of America will 

 take to tea-drinking in the late afternoon. 



Great Britain is the nation of tea-drinkers. The 

 colonies follow the mother country, and where the 

 Englishman goes into the wilds, he carries his tea- 

 pot and a supply of the dried leaf. The tea con- 

 sumed in Australasia averages over seven pounds 

 a year for every man, woman, and child ! England 

 herself does not come up to this record. The 

 whole United Kingdom averages a little over six 

 pounds per capita. The United States consumes 

 one and a third pounds. With us, coffee is the 

 breakfast beverage. In the British possessions 

 it is breakfast tea, first, last, and all the time. Tea 

 again in the afternoon, and coffee at the end of 

 dinner for the stomach's sake! 



The tea plant is a shrub that may grow to the 

 height of thirty feet, if left to its own way. The 

 leaves are leathery and tapering, with saw-toothed 

 edges, varying greatly in size on the same twig. 

 The flowers vary in color front white to deep rose, 

 their waxy petals and central bunch of yellow 

 stamens making them look like single wild roses. 

 The seeds are usually three, a single one being 

 borne in each of three cells of the dry capsule. 



A near relative of the camellia, the tea plant 

 deserves to be cultivated for its bloom and its 



