THE 



THE 



leaves, composctl of many linear fleshy leaflets, 

 which are for the most part entire, and end in 

 acute points: the flowers are of a yellowish 

 white colour; they appear in July, and are suc- 

 ceeded by small angular capsules, with one small 

 oblong seed in each, which ripens in August. 

 It is a native of France about Paris, and of Spain. 



The si.xth species has a thick fibrous root j 

 the stems taper, rising three feet high : the 

 leaves like those of Columbine : the flowers in 

 large terminating panicles. It is a native of 

 Scania, Switzerland, &c. 



There are varieties with a green stalk and 

 while stamens, and with a purple stalk and 

 stamens. There are other sorts that may be 

 cultivated for variety. 



Culture. — All the sorts are readily increased 

 by parting the roots, and planting them out in 

 the autunni when the stems decay, or in the 

 spring before the new ones are sent forth, in 

 the strongest where they are to remain, and the 

 weaker ones in nursery-rows for further growth : 

 thev may also be raised from seeds, which 

 should he sown in a bed or border in the spring ; 

 when the plants rise, they should be kept clean, 

 and be planted out where they are to remain, in 

 the following autumn. They afford variety in 

 the borders, and other parts of ornamented 

 grounds. 



THEA, a genus furnishing plants of the ex- 

 otic shrubby kuid. 



It belongs to the class and order Poli/andria 

 MonogT/nia, (Trigi/nia,) and ranks in the 

 aiatural order of ColiimtiiJ'erce. 



The characters are: that the perianth is five- 

 parted, very small, flat, inferior, permanent : 

 segments roundish, ol)tuse, equal : the corolla 

 has six petals, (three to nine) roundish, con- 

 cave, large; of which two are exterior and a lit- 

 tle smaller : the stamina have numerous fila- 

 ments, (more than two hundred) fihform, 

 shorter than the corolla, inserted into the re- 

 ceptacle : anthers cordate, fastened by the back : 

 the pistillum is a globular-trigonal germ : styles 

 three, united at the base, at bottom erect, 

 closely approximating, and as it were united 

 into one ; above the stamens diverging, some- 

 what recurved at the top, after flowering sepa- 

 rated to the very base, reffexed at the top : 

 stigmas simple: the pericarpium is a tricoccous 

 capsule, trilocular, gaping at the top, in three 

 directions : the seeds solitary, globose, angular 

 on the inward side. 



The species is T/iea, Tea-Tree. 



It is commonly about the height of a man. 

 It is described indeed by difl^erent authors, as 

 varying much in size, from that just mentioned 

 to thirty and even two hundred feet. Probably 

 it may attain th& height of thirty feet or more 



when left to Itself ; but in general the trees are 

 cut down periodically, that they may make 

 stronger shoots, and therefore are seldom seen 

 to be above five or six feet high. The trunk is 

 branching and round : tlic branches alternate or 

 vague, stiffish, inclining to an ash-colour, but 

 reddish towards the end : the leaves alternate, 

 elliptic, smooth, glossy, of a firm texture, 

 bluntly serrate except near the base, bhmt and 

 for the most part slightly emarginate at the end, 

 veined on the under side, on very short petioles, 

 round and gibbous beneath, flattish and slightly 

 channelled above : the stipules to the leaves 

 none : peduncles axillary, alternate, single, 

 curved, one-flowered, incrassate, having at the 

 base a single stipule or bracte, which is awl- 

 shapcd, erect, elliptic, obtusely serrate, with 

 the edges between the teeth recurved : the co- 

 rolla white, varying in the number and size of 

 the petals : the stamens,, according to Loureiro, 

 inserted rather into the base of the corolla than 

 into the receptacle. 



In respect to the varieties, Martyiv has con- 

 sidered them all as formuig one species, in 

 which, he is, he says, supported by the best au- 

 thorities. " Kaempfer,'.' says he, " attributes their 

 difference to soil, culture, age of the leaves, 

 and method of curing them. Mr. Ellis directly 

 asserts that the Green and BoheaTea are one and 

 the same species ; and that it is the nature of 

 the soil, the culture, and manner of gathering 

 and drying the leaves^ that makes the diff'erence; 

 and a Green Tea-tree planted in the Bohea coun- 

 try will produce Bohea Tea, and the contrary.. 

 So also Sir George Staunton says ; every uifor- 

 niation received concerning thcTea plant con- 

 curred in affirming, that its qualities depended 

 upon the soil in which it grew, and the age at 

 which the leaves- were, plucked off the tree, as 

 well as upon the management of them after- 

 wards. Linnaeus, it is well known, distinguished i 

 two species of Thea ; the Bohea with six-petalled 

 flowersj and the Virldis or Green with nine- 

 petallcd flowers : but it is now well ascertained > 

 that the number of petals is very uncertain ; and 

 Dr. Lettsom informs us that he has examined 

 several hundred flowers both from the Bohea and i 

 Green countries, and that their botanical charac- 

 ters have always appeared uniform. In the cata- 

 logue of the- royal botanic garden at Kcw, two ' 

 varieties of Thea Bohea are given, distinguished 

 by the leaves ; namely, Laxaor Broad-leaved Tea, . 

 with elliptic-oblong wrinkled leaves; and Stricta, 

 or Narrow-leaved 1 ea, with lanceolate flat leaves. 

 The Bohea Tea-trees now introduced into many 

 botanic gardens near London, exhibit very obvious 

 varieties: the leaves arc of a deeper green colour, 

 and not so deeply serrated ; and the stalk is usually 

 of a darker colour : but the botanical characters 



