ACCOUNT OF A SPECIES, 



>^ Since the preced^in^ account was written I have had an oppo^^ 

 tani'y of comparing my plant with the defcription and figure « 

 Camellia oleifera publilhed by Mr, Clark Abel in his rntereftai 

 JGiirney to the interior of China (p. 174 c. icone, e£ p, 363). Thefe 

 two fpecies are unquefliooable very like each other ; that from 

 N'apal may however, be diflingtiifhed by having larger acuminate 

 ieavesj not altogether deftitute of nerves and -bat ilightly marked, 

 on their tinder furface, with elevated dots, which are only obfervable 

 by means of a powerful lens % its flowers being fmaller and its (lyle 

 much fhorter than that figured in the plate attached to Mr. Abel's 

 defcription* The variety mentioned p. 199, has fllll greater af- 

 iiiiiiy to my tree, 



1'he leaves of the Napal tree have a very llrong but tranfient 

 fmell of Tea; but their iofufion, poffeiT:® only to a very 

 flight degree its flavour, owing perhaps as Mr. Gardnsr jufily 

 obfervesj to the defeilive manner of ga hering and drying thera 

 for the trials which he inftituted. It has be^n ^ifcertained by n^y 

 efteemed friend that the Napalefe extraft an oil from the feed 

 ©f the Kiffi by preffure, which is much valued by them as a me- 

 dicine. The feedhngs reared in the botanic garden at Calcutta 

 are thriving very well. 



The ftem and branches of this tree are fubje6l to the growth of 

 large feffile excrelcences, perhaps a fpecies of parafitical fungus^ 

 of an oval form and fpongy texture which are faid to be very 

 poifonous. They have been repeatedly fent to me in a dried (late 

 attached to fpecimens of the Camellia^ but I have as yet not beea 

 able to afcertain th^e^r fpeciEc nature. 



