TEA AND THE TEA PLANT. 



71 



From what has already boon said it may havo boen inferred that we have 

 to accept the botanical view, namely, that there is but one species of tea-yielding 

 Camellia, with under that at least several well-marked varieties, spoken of 

 generally as only cultivated races. These correspond with the Thea viridis 

 and T. Bohea of the early botanical authors, with in addition the T. sfricta and 

 T. lasiocalijx of more recent writers. 



Species and Varieties of the Tea Plant.— Linnfpus ("Gen. PI." 

 1st ed., 17B7) indicated the genera Thea and Camellia. The differences 

 between these turned on whether or not the stamens were free from each 

 other or united, as also on the number of cells and seeds in the fruit. 

 He placed Thea into Polyandria monogynia, and Camellia into Mono- 

 delphia polymidria. Subsequently Linnseus mentioned the tea plant as 

 characteristic of bis genus Thea, and the Japanese flowering Camellia 

 as the type of his Camellia. But it has since been abundantly confirmed 

 that Linna-;us was in error when he regarded the stamens as free from 

 each other in the tea plant, and it is a matter of everyday knowledge that 

 the fruits found on one and the same individual may have one, two, three, 

 or more seeds. Modern botanists are accordingly of opinion that the tw^o 

 genera cannot be upheld, and the only difference of opinion seems to be 

 regarding which name should be retained. Priority of accurate knowledge 

 of the structure of the genus undoubtedly favours Camellia. 



Turning now to the specific name : In the first edition of the " Species 

 Plantarum " Linnaeus (without giving any description) called the tea plant Thea 

 sinensis, and remarked that he had seen some specimens with six petals and 

 others with nine, but he left it to those who had the opportunity of studying 

 the living plants to say whether that peculiarity denoted two or onl^- one species. 

 In the second edition of his work (published in 1762) he discarded the name 

 T. sinensis without giving any reason, and accepted the conclusion arrived at by 

 Hill (1759), viz. that there were two forms — Bohea Tea, a plant with small 

 dark green leaves and six petals, and Green Tea, a plant with long pale green 

 leaves and nine petals. Linnaeus makes no mention of Hill's further suggestion 

 that the former yielded black tea and the latter green tea ; he simply rendered 

 the names as Thea Bohea and T. viridis. Thus nearly a hundred and thirty 

 years after Bontius had emphatically said that the difference between the black 

 and the green tea was in the preparation, not in the plant used, we find Hill 

 and several subsequent authors affirming or suggesting that the green and 

 black teas were the produce of different plants. At all events they stoutly 

 upheld the existence of two distinct species of cultivated tea plants. In the 

 Linnaean herbarium there are the following specimens and notes : " Thea 

 Bohea, n. 152," an excellent sheet, also two separate leaves named T. viridis, 

 with the name " Gordon " written below each. One of these is a leaf of T. Bohea 

 from Canton, the other a small form of T. viridis, said to be T. Hyson. The 

 Gordon who corresponded with Linnaeus was a nurseryman of Mile End, 

 London, who died in 1780. He thus may have been growing the plants of 

 which he sent the leaves to Linnaeus— and very possibly for the purpose of 

 determination. 



We are thus led to the following assortment : 



Camellia Thea, Linl- {" Enumer. PI. Hort. Berolinenesis," 1822. ii. p. 73). 

 Link was the first botanical writer who definitely placed the tea plant under 

 Camellia and he retained two forms, C. Thea and C. viridis. (See Fig. 7.) 



While touring through the Indian tea districts in 1894 I was asked for ready 

 eye-marks by which the cultivated forms could be distinguished. I replied by 



