236 NATURAL HISTORY. 



which never grows higher than from twenty to thirty 

 feet. 



The White Lime (Tilia alba), Mich., is found in the 

 woods of the Middle and Western States. Trunk from 

 thirty to forty feet in height. Fibrous portion of inner 

 bark also used for fishing-lines, nets, and rice-bags, h. 



SIXTEENTH FAMILY. CAMELLIA. (Class 13, L.) 

 Are small shrubs and trees, with simple leaves, alternat- 

 ing on the stalk. Flowers consisting of five or more 

 petals. The first of this family is 



The Tea Plant (Thea chinensis), plate 28, fig. 4. 

 The leaves are evergreen, smooth, lanceolate, rather long, 

 and notched ; the flowers stand singly. This well-known 

 article of commerce is divided into two kinds, namely : 

 Green Tea, the leaves of which, being dried, are of a 

 bluish-green, and Black, because the leaves are brown 

 or black. This shrub, valuable for the sake of its leaves, 

 is a native of China and Japan, and being in general use 

 as forming a favorite beverage for all classes, many 

 efforts have been made to transplant the tea shrub to 

 Brazil, and other provinces of South America. Its size 

 is about the same as that of a currant bush ; very branch- 

 ing ; the bark is gray, the wood hard ; the leaves num- 

 erous, and of the size and shape of those of the small, 

 sour cherry, have very short foot-stalks. The smallest 

 leaves on the top, the larger below ; the first are consid- 

 ered the best ; the latter, on being gathered, are divided 

 into five portions, which bring different prices, according 

 to their quality. The flowers are white, without fra- 

 grance, and much resemble the wild rose. The fruit, 

 black, wood-like, is divided into three capsules, each of 

 which contains one bitter seed not unlike that of the sloe 

 thorn. The first time of gathering is in March, when 



