CHAP. XIX. 



TE 11 N ST R OM LA CEAl , 



393 



camellias, with which genus they arc united by various botanists. The 

 leaves are large, shining, laurel-like, and the flowers white, axillary, pedi- 

 celed, and sweet-scented. The culture may be considered the same as that 

 of the camellia, but some of the species are less hardy. 

 * I. T. vi'ridis L. The common, or green Tea. 



Identification. Lin- Sp., 735. ; Don's Mill, 1. p. 577. 



Svtumvmes. T. BeMa stricta Ait. Hort. Keiv., ed. 2. vol. 3. p. 303. ; T. 



sinensis Sims, Bot. Mug., t. 998.; S. cliinensis var. a viridis Dec. 



Prod., 1. p. 530. ; Cam£ll/rt viridis Link, Enam., 2. p. 73. ; Thea 



cantonlnsis Lour. Coc/i., p. 339. 

 Engravings. Lodd. Bot. Cab., t. 227.; Woodv. Med. Bot. SuppL, 116. 



t. 256. ; Black. Herb, t. 331. ; Letts. Mon., t. 1. ; and our fig. 102. 



Spec. Char., eye. Leaves elliptic-oblong, serrated, 3 

 times longer than broad. Flowers of 5 sepals and 

 5 — 7 petals, axillary, solitary, erect. Fruit nodding, 

 dehiscent. (Don's Mill., i. p. 577.) An evergreen 

 shrub, with light green laurel-like leaves, and large 

 white fragrant flowers, which are produced from 

 September till December. Introduced from China 

 in 1768. Height from 6 ft. to 8 ft. 



* 2. T. Bohe^a L. The Bohea, or Black, Tea. 



Identification. Lin. Sp., 743. ; Don's Mill., 1. p. 577. 



Synonymes. T. cliinensis j3 Bohea Sims, Bot. Mag., t. 998. ; Dec. Prod.,1. p. 530. 

 Engravings. Lodd. Bot. Cab., 226. ; Lois. Herb. Amer., t. 255. ; Kaempf. Amcen., t. 606. ; Sims, 

 Bot., t. 908.; and our fig. 103. 



Spec. Char., $c. Leaves elliptical-oblong, obtuse, crenated, twice as long as 

 broad. Flowers of 5 sepals, and 5 petals, axillary, twin or ternary. (Don's 

 Mill., i. p. 577.) An evergreen shrub, with dark green leaves, much 

 smaller than those of the preceding species; and white flowers, also smaller, 

 but fragrant. Introduced from China in 1780, and generally treated as a 

 frame or green-house plant. 



History, Uses, eye. The genus Thea (forming the Thedcccc 

 of Mirbel, and included in the Camellias of Jussieu and 

 De Candolle) is almost exclusively confined to China, 

 Japan, and some of the neighbouring islands; but, as the 

 species are plants which have been cultivated for an un- 

 known length of time, it is difficult to ascertain their native 

 country. Of late, the Thea viridis has been discovered in 

 Upper Assam through an extent of country of one month's 

 march, and within the East India Company's territories, 

 from Sadiya and Beesa to the Chinese frontier of the pro- ** 



vince of Yunnan, where the shrub is cultivated for the sake of its leaf. This 

 discovery was made in 1826, by Mr. David Scott ; and an account of it is 

 given in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of India for January 1835, and in the 

 Gardener's Magazine, vol. xi. p. 429. It appears that the inhabitants of these 

 countries are in the habit of boiling the stalks and leaves, and then squeezing 

 them into a ball, which they dry in the sun, and then retain for use. 



Much has been written on the plant which produces the tea of commerce. 

 Dr. Lettsom, who wrote a pamphlet on the subject in 1772, asserts that all 

 the different kinds of tea brought to Europe are the produce of Thea viridis, 

 and that the whole difference in the qualities of teas depends, not on the 

 species of plant, but on the soil and climate in which the plants are grown, 

 the different ages and periods at which the leaves are gathered, and the dif- 

 ferent modes of preparing and drying them. A green tea plant, he asserts, 

 planted in the bohea tea country, will produce bohea tea; and a plant from 

 the bohea tea country, planted in the green tea country, will produce green 

 tea. Among all the different opinions that have been advanced on the sub- 

 ject, this appears to us by far the most plausible. It is said, however, that 

 Thea Bohea is cultivated in the southern provinces, as the Thea viridis is in 



