By Mr. William Beattie Booth. 561 



but is well deserving of attention as it appears to be one of 

 the plants upon which the Chinese graft their varieties of 

 Camellia Japonica. Of this there is no doubt, as it was ob- 

 tained in two separate importations by the Society, the first 

 in 1822, and the second in 1824, and both under similar 

 circumstances ; the grafted portion of the Camellia having 

 died during the voyage, and this plant, which was the stock, 

 having survived. 



The whole plant is of weak growth, with round pendulous hairy branches, of 

 a deep brown colour. The leaves are each about 2 \ inches long, ovate- lanceo- 

 late, truncate, and simply serrate ; on the upper side they are of a deep and 

 somewhat shining green, quite smooth, and without veins. The under side is 

 much paler, and densely covered with pubescence, as are likewise the petioles, 

 which are usually about a quarter of an inch long, rounded below, and slightly 

 hollowed above. The flowers are white, axillary, and solitary, on short round 

 petioles, imbricated with small, pointed, oval, silky scales ; and having a 5-leaved 

 calyx, with roundish-oval sepals. The petals are from 7 to 8 in number, erect, 

 obovate, and entire, each of them measures about a quarter of an inch in breadth 

 in the widest part, but the outer ones are usually much smaller, and the whole 

 expansion of the flower is never more than half an inch. 



A very correct figure of it will be found in Loddiges's 

 Bot.* Cabinet, t. 1493, under the name of Camellia Euryoides. 



Besides these three species, there have been two others 

 that have been described as belonging to Thea, namely, 

 T. Cochinchinensis, and T. oleosa of Loureiro, Fl. Cochin. 

 Vol. 1, p, 413. They have been taken up by M. Decan- 

 dolle in his Prodromus, Vol. 1, p. 530 on Loureiro's 

 authority. His Thea oleosa has been supposed to be the 

 Camellia Sasanqua, but the other remains undetermined. 



The Thea Bohea and viridis are the plants whose leaves 

 furnish the whole of the kinds of Tea imported from China. 

 Its first introduction into Europe was by the Dutch East 

 India Company in the early part of the 17th Century, and it 

 vol vii, 4 D 



