BOTANICAL DIFFERENCE. 315 



other botanists, having the same specimens before 

 them, dissent from that opinion, so that this point 

 must remain an open question among botanists. 



With respect to the Thea Bohea of our gardens, 

 Mr. Reeves and myself have always been of opinion 

 that this plant is identical with the Honan plant. 

 It may now be considered that Mr. Fortune has 

 fully established the fact of the identity of cha- 

 racter of these two plants ; but whether this plant 

 represents the plants exclusively cultivated through- 

 out the province of Canton, and that the teas manu- 

 factured in that province are therefore the product 

 of the Thea Bohea, as Mr. Fortune appears to 

 consider*, seems to me to require much more 

 examination. It does not appear that Mr. Fortune 

 was enabled to penetrate into any parts of that 

 province not accessible to others, or that he visited 

 any other plantations than those of Honan. 



Certainly the Thea Viridis is just as common in 

 the nursery gardens of Canton as the Thea Bohea. 

 It was a common practice among the captains and 

 officers of the E. I. Company's ships to make pur- 

 chases of both these varieties ; which the Chinese 

 ordinarily procure from the neighbouring districts, 

 and from which there is little reason to doubt, that 

 our public and private gardens have been mostly 

 stocked. It is true that a very ordinary kind of 

 green tea is made in this province, and which is 



* Wanderings in China, 2d edition, pp. 189. 213. 219. 



