THE 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



THE 



661 



smaller. Stamina: filamenta numerous, more than two hun- 

 dred, filiform, shorter than the corolla, inserted into the 

 receptacle; antherse cordate, fastened by the back. Pistil: 

 germen globular, trigonal ; styles three, united at the base, 

 at bottom erect, closely approximating, and as it were united 

 into one above the stamina, diverging, somewhat recurved at 

 the top, after flowering separating to the very base, reflexed 

 at the top; stigmas simple. Pericarp: capsule tricoccous, 

 trilocular, gaping at the top in three directions. Seeds: soli- 

 tary, globose, angular on the inward side. Observe. The 

 parts of the flower vary much in number, for sometimes the 

 calix is six-parted ; the corolla has three petals, or more, as 

 far as nine, of which the six inner ones are larger, and equal 

 to the three outer, a little smaller ; stamina as far as two 

 hundred and eighty. Thunberg remarks, that in Thea Japo- 

 nica the calix is five-leaved, ovate, obtuse, concave leaflets ; 

 the corolla six-petalled ; petals ovate, very blunt, three lower 

 ones smaller ; germen somewhat scaly ; style filiform, erect, 

 very short ; stigmas three, filiform, erect, length of the fila- 

 menta. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Corolla: six or nine 

 petalled. Calix : five or six leaved. Capsules : tricoccous. 



The only known species is, 



1. Thea; Tea Tree. Leaves alternate, elliptic, smooth, 

 glossy, of a firm texture, bluntly serrate, except near the 

 base, blunt, and for the most part slightly emarginate at the 

 end, veined on the under side, on very short petioles, round, 

 and gibbous beneath, flattish, and slightly channelled above; 

 corolla white, varying in the number and size of the petals. 

 The stem is from three to six feet high, bushy, with nume- 

 rous, alternate, round, leafy branches, smooth, except at the 

 very extremity, where the youngest shoots are finely silky, 

 with close-pressed hairs. Many varieties of this plant are 

 known in China: the distinctions usually regarded in Eu- 

 rope are the following. Green Teas: 1. Bing, Imperial, or 

 Bloom Tea, with a large loose leaf, of a light green colour, 

 and a faint delicate smell. 2. Hy-tiang, or Hyson Tea; the 

 leaves are closely curled and small, of a green colour, verg- 

 ing towards blue. There is also another sort with narrow 

 short leaves ; and a kind of Green Tea with long narrow 

 leaves. 3. Song'-lo, or Single, which, with many others not 

 worth enumerating, receives its name from the place where it 

 is cultivated. Bahea Te-if. 1. Souchong is a superior kind 

 of Congfon Tea. It imparts a yellowish-green colour by in- 

 fusion, and obtains its name from a province in China. The 

 kind called Padre Souchong has a finer taste and smell: the 

 leaves are large and yellowish, not rolled up, and packed in 

 papers of half a pound each. 2. Cam-ho, or Soum-lo, called 

 after the name of the place where it is gathered. A fragrant 

 Tea, with a violet smell. 3. Congo, which resembles the 

 Common Bohea in the colour of the leaf. 4. Pekao, is known 

 by having the appearance of small white (lowers intermixed 

 with it. 5. Common Bohea, or Black Tea. of which there 

 are various kinds. Besides these, Green ami Bohea Teas 

 are sometimes imported in balls, from two ounces to the 

 ize of a nutmeg, and of peas. The smallest in this form is 

 well known under the name of Gunpowder Tea. Sometimes 

 the succulent leaves are twisted like packthread, an inch and 

 half or two inches long; three of these are usually tied toge- 

 ther at the ends by different-coloured silk threads. The 

 Chinese also make an extract from Tea, which they form 

 into small cakes not much broader than a sixpence, or into 

 rolls of a considerable size. They dissolve it in a large 

 quantity of water, and ascribe powerful effects to it as a 

 sudorific. The manner of procuring and preparing the 

 leaves, sir George Staunton relates as follows : The largest 



K oldest leaves, which are the least esteemed, and destined 



for the use of the lowest classes of the people, are often 

 exposed to sale, with a little previous manipulation, while 

 they retain that kind of vegetable taste which is common to 

 most fresh plants, but which vanishes in a little time, while 

 the more essential flavour, characteristic of each particular 

 vegetable, remains long without diminution. But the young 

 leaves undergo no inconsiderable preparation, before they are 

 delivered to the purchaser; every leaf passes through the 

 fingers of a female, who rolls it up almost to the form it had 

 assumed before it became expanded in the progress of its 

 growth. It is afterwards placed upon thin plates of earthen- 

 ware or iron : these plates are much thinner than those made 

 in other countries ; and it is confidently denied that any of 

 copper are employed for the same purpose, for scarcely any 

 Chinese utensil is make of that metal, which they chiefly use 

 for coin. These earthen, or iron, and possibly copper plates, 

 are then placed over a charcoal fire, which draws all remain- 

 ing moisture from the leaves, rendering them dry and crisp ; 

 for the colour and astringency of Green Tea, notwithstanding 

 its verdigris taste, is said to be owing to the early period 

 at which the leaves are plucked, because they are then, like 

 unripe fruit, green and acrid. Chinese drawings, though 

 rudely executed, exhibit a faithful picture of what they are 

 intended to represent. From a set of these, giving the whole 

 process of gathering and manufacturing the Tea, we learn 

 that it grows principally in fully countries, upon rocky sum- 

 mits and steep declivities. It appears also from the drawings, 

 that the trees in general are not much higher than a man, as 

 the gatherers are always represented on the ground, making 

 use of hooked slicks, which seem intended to draw the 

 branches towards them, when they hang over places difficult 

 of access. They pick the leaves, as soon as gathered, into 

 different sorts; and dry them in a range of stoves, like those 

 in a chemist's laboratory. It is not known what arts are used 

 ased in China, to give a variety of colour and flavour to their 

 Teas, which cannot all be satisfactorily accounted for from 

 soil, situation, and the different seasons at which the leaves 

 are gathered. In Japan, the produce is chiefly consumed 

 within the country ; whereas, in China, the exportation, we 

 know, is very considerable, and the temptation great to 

 exercise the arts of sophistication, in which it is notorious 

 that the Chinese are not deficient In the Chinese drawings, 

 already mentioned, there are figures of several persons, appa- 

 rently separating the different kinds of Tea, and drying it in 

 the sun, with several baskets standing near them with a very 

 white substance, and in considerable quantity. To what use 

 this may be applied is uncertain, as well as what the substance 

 represented is ; yet there is little doubt that it is something 

 used in the manufacturing of Tea, because the Chinese do 

 not introduce any thing into their pieces but what relates in 

 some respect to the subject. We are better acquainted with 

 a vegetable substance which is employed in giving a flavour 

 to Tea; it is the Olea Fragrans, the flowers of which are 

 frequently to be met with in Teas imported from China; and 

 the plant thus used is not now uncommon incur stoves. The 

 flowers of the Arabian Jasmin, and of some other plants, as 

 the Camellia Susanqua, are used for the same purpose; on 

 which account the Chinese call the latter Tea-flower, and 

 cultivate it in vast abundance, but principally for its nut, 

 which yields an esculent oil, equal to the best which comes 

 from Florence. The Tea plant is particularly valuable from 

 the facility of its culture on the sides and upon the very sum- 

 mits of mountains, in places unfit for any thing else. The late 

 Dr. Lettsom, whose authority is of great weight, thinks that 

 some art is used in dyeing Teas, because they yield a much 

 darker and less elegant infusion than they did formerly; and 



