BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS AND FORM. 39 



plants is of the same nature, the only noticeable differ- 

 ence really existing being of a simply specific value. The 

 fruit of the Tea-shrub is three-celled and three-seeded 

 while that of the Camillia is triangular in form and 

 single-seeded only. 



Linnaeus, while recognizing the Tea-plant as belonging 

 to the same family as the Camillia, Latinizes its Chinese 

 name, classing it as Thea Sinensis, and dividing it into 

 two species Thea Viridis and Thea Bohea; DeCandolle, 

 while indorsing Linnaeus' classification, adds that " in 

 the eighteenth century when the shrub which produces 

 tea was little known Linnaeus named the genus Thea 

 Sinensis, but later judged it better to distinguish two 

 species which he believed at the time to correspond with 

 the distinctions existing between the Green and Black teas 

 of commerce." The latest works on botany, also, make 

 Thea a distinct genus Thea Sinensis divided into two 

 species Thea viridis and Thea bohea these botanical 

 terms having no specific relation to the varieties known to 

 commerce as Green and Black teas. It having also been 

 proven that there is but one species comprehending both 

 varieties, the difference in color and character being due 

 to a variation in the soil, climate, as well as to different 

 methods of cultivation and curing, from either or both 

 of which Green or Black tea may be prepared at will 

 according to the process of manufacture. 



In a wild state is large and bushy, ranging in height 

 from ten to fifteen feet, often assuming the proportions of a 

 small tree. While in a state of cultivation its growth is 

 limited by frequent prunings to from three to five feet, 

 forming a polyandrous, shrub evergreen with bushy stem 

 and numerous leafy branches. The leaves are alternate, 

 large, elliptical and obtusely serrated, varied and placed in 

 smooth short-channeled foot-stalks, the calyx being small, 



