THE TEA PLANT 



Bohea. 



Introduction to 

 Europe. 



Boiled Seed. 



Best with Long 

 and Large 

 Leaves. 



CAMELLIA 



THE A 



Japanese Camellia 



tea plant, since it was rejected, by Linnaeus and, as Seemann. points out, is geo- 

 graphically hardly correct. Long years ago Sims (Bot. Mag., 1807, 998) recorded 

 the conviction that there was but one species of tea, and further that Tin-n would 

 have to be reduced to Camriiia. Link, however, accepted two forms of the tea 

 plant, and called them Camellia Tin-n and c. ririiii*, and thus reduced Then 

 to Camellia. 



The name Bohen is a corruption of Wu-i (Bu-i) mountains in Fuh-kien, long 

 famous for Black Tea. According to Martyn (Miller, Gard. Diet., 1807), Linnaeus 

 gave the name Camellia in honour of Kamel, a Moravian Jesuit, who collected 

 plants in the Philippine Islands and sent them to Ray and Petiver between the 

 years 1683 and 1700. The Abbe Berlese thinks, however, that the genus was 

 named after an Italian, Father Camelli, who is said to have introduced 

 *. jaitntilca from Japan to Europe in 1739. Linnaeus (Hort. Cliff., 1737, 204) 

 makes the interesting observation that although seven separate consignments of 

 seed had been received at Clifford's garden in Holland, none had germinated, 

 nor was he aware of any garden in Europe where the plant had been grown. 

 Commenting on that statement, Breyn refers to J. Commelin (Cat. PL Hort. 

 Amstel., 1689, 346), who makes mention of the cultivation of the tea plant, but 

 whether, adds Breyn, raised from seeds or live plants transported to Europe, 

 he was unable to ascertain. This little episode brings to mind the repeated 

 references to the sacred associations of the Chinese and Japanese with their 

 tea industry and their unwillingness to furnish information regarding it. In 

 fact the explanation of the failure to germinate the seeds may very probably 

 have been due to the not unusual circumstance of these having been boiled befoie 

 being allowed to be exported. Du Halde (Gen. Hist. China (Engl. transl.), 1736, 

 iv., 21) speaks of tea as "another plant made use of in Physick." He then 

 tells us that " the best tea grows in the middle of the trees which are most exposed 

 to the sun." " The tea whose leaves are long and large is the best, on the 

 contrary that which hath small short leaves is not esteemed good ; that which 

 hath its leaves curled is the most valuable, and that which hath them quite 

 smooth is the worst." Here we have the practical man discussing the large- 

 and small-leaved forms of the plant for which the botanist of that time invented 

 names. But history is only repeating itself. Had the Indian planters con- 

 sidered these and other such passages they might have saved themselves the 

 trouble and expense of introducing the small smooth-leaved Chinese plant, and 

 taken at once to the large and bullate-leaved Assam indigenous. 



There are several cultivated and wild forms of Camellia, but only the 

 two that are of economic interest and, it might be said, of exceptional value to 

 man, need be here dealt with : 



1. Camellia japoniea (including c. .sv/ /.). The Cultivated or Garden 

 Camellia. This plant may be spoken of as a modern introduction to the 

 gardens of Europe and India. It is accordingly not described by the early 

 fathers on gardening. The year 1792 is generally mentioned as that of greatest 

 interest in the history of the camellias, since all the better known kinds may be 

 said to have appeared simultaneously about that time. For twenty to thirty 

 years subsequently considerable interest was taken in their cultivation, and the 

 number of forms, grown in hothouses, multiplied rapidly. But the great delay 

 in their first arrival may be accounted for by the maritime struggles for su- 

 premacy in the Eastern trade, between the Portuguese, Dutch and Spanish, 

 which culminated in their temporary expulsion from both Japan and China. 

 To this same circumstance also is largely due the shroud of religious secrecy that 

 opposed the development of the trade in 



2. C. Thea. The Tea Plant ; the t'u or ch'a, she, theh of the Chinese and 

 tsja, cha, ts-cha of the Japanese words which have practically accompanied 

 the prepared leaves as tea, te, lay, the, cha, chai, etc., etc., into most of the lan- 

 guages of Europe and Asia. The English word tea was originally pronounced 

 like the Chinese te or tay, hence Pope (Rape of the Lock, 1712) rhymes it with 

 obey. It changed, however, very shortly after, since Edward Moore rhymes 

 it (1750) with "Mrs. P." 



Habitat. Several writers report having met with the tea plant in a wild con- 

 dition in certain parts of China and Cochin-China. It was discovered wild, or 

 at all events completely acclimatised, in various parts of Assam by Bruce, Scott, 

 Jenkins and Charlton, and the so-called indigenous habitats were examined by 

 the " Tea Commission " and specially reported on by Griffith. In 1882 the 

 wild tea plant was found by me as a forest tree or large bush in the eastern tracts 



210 



Garden 



Camellia. 



The Tea 

 Plant. 



Wild Plant. 



