BOTANICAL DIFFERENCE. 325 



paration de ses feuilles ; clu moins je ne l'ai pas vue 

 dans la culture Brasilienne." 



Thus all botanists who have seen the tea plant 

 under extensive cultivation out of China agree, 

 (and Loureiro had no such opportunity in China) 

 that there is no specific difference in the tea plants 

 which came under their observation. And even 

 Loureiro states, that all the differences of the 

 Chinese Thea may be derived from a single botanical 

 species, consequent upon diversity of soil and 

 culture. Von Siebold, moreover, observes that, in 

 a plant which has been cultivated for so many 

 centuries, and in such different climates, the number 

 of petals, the growth of the shrubs, and the shape 

 and largeness of the leaves, are not sufficiently 

 permanent characters to constitute signs of species. 



It must, however, be acknowledged, in conclusion, 

 that botanists generally agree that there are two 

 distinct characters of the tea plant, whether spe- 

 cifically different or not, having for types the Thea 

 Bohea and Thea Viridis. So far also as experience 

 of these plants in our gardens is concerned, they 

 differ in habits, as well as in appearance. The 

 Bohea is a more tender plant than the Yiridis. 

 The latter, under certain management, bears our 

 climate in the open air in winter ; the former not. 



But whether the differences found in these 

 plants justify a classification into separate species, 

 must depend upon the views and opinions of bota- 

 nists as to what constitutes, or what conventionally, 



Y 3 



