Annales des Sciences Naturel/es. 1 95 



II. — Botany. 



A continuation of Nees D'Esenbeck et Montagne's Jungermanicarum spe- 

 cies — A translation of D. Don's paper on the class of Personate plants in Edin. 



New Phil. Journ. for April 1835 Koch's Description des Orobanches de la 



Flora d'AUemagne De Candolle sur la decouverte du The dans une province 



de I'lnde Anglaise : abstract of a paper published in the "Bibliotheque Universelle 

 de Geneve" for June 1835- A society was some time ago formed at Calcutta to 

 ascertain the possibility of cultivating tea in India, and the best locality for mak- 

 ing the attempt- The province of Assam, which adjoins the Chinese empire, 

 was thought of; and in answer to their inquiries, Captain Jenkins informed the 

 Committee that the mountainous region lying between Cachan and Assam ap- 

 peared to him to be extremely favourable to their purpose, and that indeed in 

 the district of Beesa a kind of tea grew wild. This important notice having been 

 confirmed, it remained to be ascertained if the wild plant had the delicious fla- 

 vour of the Chinese : and if the province was really suitable either to its cul- 

 ture, or to the preparation of the leaves. De Candolle fears that the wild plant 

 of Beesa will afford an inferior tea, — not that he denies the identity of the spe- 

 cies with the true tea, but it may prove to be a variety with only a slight 

 odorous property. We know that even in China the value of the tea varies 

 much in different places : it is with the Thea as with the vine, which affords 

 from even near localities a product very different in quality, and this need give 

 us no surprise, for, besides diversity of soil and exposure, the shrub may be in- 

 fluenced by many differences in the period of the gathering of the leaves, in the 

 number of these gatherings, in the preparation of the leaves, and perhaps also 

 in the races or varieties which have been cultivated time immemorial in each 

 locality. The wild Thea will probably give a stronger and more acrid savour, and 

 a less delicate perfume. This consideration, however, does not lessen the in- 

 terest of the discovery. If the province of Assam, which adjoins China, pro- 

 duces the Thea indigenous, it ought to be eminently suited to the culture of the 

 shrub ; and were the wild plant to be found an inferior object to the cultivator, 

 the reclaimed race might be introduced advantageously from China. The Cal- 

 cutta Society have acted wisely in sending Dr Wallich, with able assistants, to 

 examine Assam ; and in such hands there can be no doubt that what science, 

 skill, and zeal can do in effecting the society's object, will be done. We can- 

 not refuse ourselves the pleasure of giving a translation of the following letter 

 from Dr Wallich to M. Benjamin Delessert, dated Calcutta 10th August 1835. 



" I reckon on departing in four days — first for the mountains which adjoin the 

 Sillet, particularly for Chuvra-Poonje and Myrung, where I shall sojurn until 

 October. Crossing then the mountains of Khassea, I shall go directly to Gowa- 

 hatty in Assam, and thence to Suddeya in Upper Assam, upon the river Ber- 

 hampooter, where my investigations in relation to the tea will begin. I shall be 

 accompanied by a physician whose name is well known to you as to MM. Mir- 

 bel and Brongniart — William Griffith — a young man skilled in general and phy- 

 siological botany, and who cannot fail to acquire a high reputation. Another per- 

 son attached to the medical service of the India Company is to accompany me 

 in the quality of geologist, — it is Mr John MacCleland, who is now publishing 

 a work on the geology of the province of Kamaon. I make it my boast that it 

 was at my recommendation that these gentlemen have been attached to the mis- 

 sion. 



