TEA. 297 



are likely to succeed in the cultivation of a 

 new species of it in the South of France. 

 This plant is called Xcnopoma Then Sinensis ; 

 it is a species of the tea plant hardly known 

 to us, as it has not yet been imported as an 

 article of commerce. It was brought into 

 France about four years ago by a Russian, 

 and has lately been examined by order of the 

 Minister of the Interior. The academicians, 

 the chemists, and the physicians, to whom 

 the duty was committed, have agreed that 

 its qualities are sudorific and stomachic. The 

 leaves may be used green, immediately after 

 they are gathered from the plant. It is said 

 to be easily propagated, and it is thought that 

 it will soon become naturalized in France. 



The possibility of cultivating the tea shrub 

 in our climate is now established beyond a 

 doubt. We believe the first tea-plant that 

 was seen in Europe, w r as that which Carl 

 Gustavus Ekeberg, captain of a Swedish 

 East Indiaman, raised from seed on his vov- 

 age home, and which he presented to Lin- 

 naeus, on the 3d of October, 1763. It was 

 also raised from seed by John Ellis, Esq, in 

 the year 1768; who presented it to the 

 king's gardener at Kew, where arc collected 

 all the useful and ornamental plants that 



