326 BOTANICAL DIFFERENCE. 



for accuracy of language and nomenclature, it may 

 be deemed convenient to make a specific difference. 



I shall now describe what has come under my 

 own observation. 



A curious and beautiful specimen of the tea 

 plant was brought to me from the Bohea country. 

 The leaves were large, broad, and luxuriant, and 

 their colour of a dark green. I was surprised to 

 find the leaf wrinkled (bullate) ; a character which 

 I had until that time, in common with others, con- 

 sidered peculiar to the green tea, but which I have 

 since had reason to think is not confined to that 

 species or variety. This plant was afterwards 

 placed in a good garden soil in an elevated situ- 

 ation at Macao, with a northern exposure. In the 

 course of a few months it changed colour, and the 

 leaves became of a bright green, and the plant 

 resembled those specimens I had seen in gardens 

 at Macao, which were considered green tea plants. 

 This plant was afterwards placed in a small plan- 

 tation on the Lapa, an island forming one side of 

 the harbour of Macao. It was here placed near an 

 excellent specimen of the green tea plant, brought 

 to me by a green tea merchant, Tien Hing, in 

 whom I had great confidence. These with many 

 other plants were seen by a skilful botanist and 

 scientific man, Dr. Abel, who accompanied Lord 

 Amherst on his embassy to Peking. His attention 

 was particularly directed to the two plants in 



