60 CAMELLIA JAPONICA. 



pronunciation confusing these plants with the papilionaceous 

 genus Dalea, it also is radically wrong, for the flower is 

 named after Andrew Dahl, a Swedish botanist, who first 

 brought it from Mexico, and consequently it should be called 

 Dahlia after him. 



FREDERICK. 



Jlrbutus, too, is generally pronounced wrong; for, according 

 to Virgil,* it should have the accent on the first syllable, the 

 u of the second syllable being short. 



MRS. C. 



In the same manner, Camellia should have both /'s pro- 

 nounced; the planets being so called, after Joseph Kamel, 

 a Jesuit, whose name is usually spelt Camellus. 



ESTHER. 



Some one was telling me, the other day, that Camellias 

 are used by the Chinese for flavoring their tea. 



Camellia Sesanqua. 



i 



MRS. C. 



So I have understood: the leaves of Camellia Japonica and 

 Sesanqua are often employed in China and Japan instead of 

 those of the true tea; and many of the different species of the 

 genus Thea are used, almost indifferently the one for the 

 other, by the inhabitants of China, Japan, and Cochin-China. 



ESTHER. 



Are the Camellias, then, a species of tea? 

 * Eclogues, iii. 82. and vii. 46. 



