Genus GORDONIA, Ellis. 
Ternstromiacese. 
Syst. Nat. 
Monadelphia Polyandria. 
Syst. Lin. 
Synonymes. 
Gordonia, Hypericum, 
Gordonia, 
Gordonie, 
Of Authors. 
France and Italy. 
Germany. 
Derivations. This genus was named in honour of Alexander Gordon, a celebrated nurseryman, at Mile End, near London, 
who lived in the time of Phillip Miller. The name Hypericum is supposed to be derived from the Greek huper for, and ereiki, 
heath, and was applied by Linnreus, from a supposed resemblance that plants of this genus bear to the heath. 
Generic Characters. Calyx of 5 rounded coriaceous sepals. Petals 5, somewhat adnate to the urceolus 
of the stamens. Style crowned by a peltate 5-lobed stigma. Capsules 5-celled, 5-valved ; cells 2 4- 
seeded. Seeds ending in a leafy wing, fixed to the central column, filiform. Don, Miller's Diet. 
^HERE are but two hardy species of Gordonia, both sub-evergreen. 
Although they are natives of a low latitude, they are able to with- 
stand a considerable northern climate. To the same natural fam- 
ily belong the genera Malachodendron, Stuartia, Camellia, and 
Thea. The most noted species among them are the Camellia 
japonica, universally planted in the Japanese gardens, and are 
common in the conservatories of Europe and America ; and the Thea viridis 
and bohea, or the Chinese tea-plants. The two last-named species, indepen- 
dent of being especially cultivated in China, France, and Brazil, for their 
leaves, which constitute the tea of our commerce, are highly esteemed as hot 
house plants, for their large, shining, laurel-like leaves, and sweet-scented, 
axillary, white flowers. 
