2 TEA 



the young leaves is thickly covered with fine hairs which 

 entirely disappear with advancing age. The beautiful 

 white or rose-coloured, slightly fragrant, flowers occur 

 either singly or in clusters in the axils of the leaves ; 

 they are succeeded by more or less globular fruits con- 

 sisting of capsules composed of three compartments, 

 usually with only one seed in each compartment. 



The question as to the original home of the tea plant 

 is by no means settled, the point at issue being whether, 

 after all, the true home of the plant is in the country 

 naturally associated with it, viz., China, or in the 

 neighbouring Indian province of Assam. The evidence 

 in support of the latter contention is largely based upon 

 the fact that the tea plant attains extraordinary luxuri- 

 ance in Assam, greater, it is said, than that attained 

 in any part of the Celestial Kingdom, and, arguing 

 that in its natural home a plant reaches its greatest 

 development, supporters of this view maintain that it 

 is in Assam and not in China that we are to look for the 

 home of tea. It by no means follows, ho\\v\vr, that the 

 reasoning of this argument is sound, for it has been 

 repeatedly noticed that plants introduced into new 

 countries where conditions seemed favourable lor their 

 growth have flourished so well that their luxuriance 

 rivalled that of the plants growing in the land admitted 

 to be their home. Support for the opposite view is 

 sought in a Japanese legend which ascribes to China 

 the honour of being the home of the tea plant ; but, 

 unfortunately, there is evidence for supposing that the 

 Chinese never heard of this legend except from foreign 

 sources, although the events related occurred in their 

 own country. There are, however, certain references 

 to the plant in the writings of a Celestial author who 

 lived about 2,700 B.C., and a Chinese commentator of 

 this ancient author, writing in the fourth century B.C., 



