TEA 



CHAPTER I 



DESCRIPTION OF THE TEA PLANT 



TEA, as everyone knows, is prepared from the young 

 leaves of the tea plant, Camellia Thea (Thea sinensis), 

 a shrub belonging to the natural order Theaceae, and 

 extensively cultivated in China, India, and Ceylon, 

 and, to a less extent, in certain other countries. Under 

 .the name of Thea sinensis, the Swedish botanist, 

 Linnaeus, originally described tea as a single species, 

 but later it became known that two distinct plants were 

 cultivated in China, which he named X. viridis and T. 

 Bohea. These two species were long thought to be the 

 origin of green and black teas respectively. No strictly 

 wild plants have been found in China, but an indigenous 

 tea-tree, Thea assamica (or, as it is now called, Camellia 

 Thea) occurs in Assam, and is generally regarded by 

 botanists as the parent" species of all cultivated forms. 

 The tea plant is a bushy shrub which, when left to its 

 natural habit of growth and not subjected to the vigorous 

 prunings necessary for its successful cultivation, attains 

 the height of a small tree. The leaves vary considerably 

 in size and shape, according to the variety, but are 

 leathery, alternate, and generally elliptical or lanceolate, 

 with a toothed margin. Oil glands occur in the sub- 

 stance of the leaf and contain an essential oil to which 

 the flavour of tea is largely due. The under surface of 



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