Chap. XVI. NAMES OF TEA-PLANTS. 



273 



the Canton teas are made, is known to botanists as 

 the Thea bohea, while the more northern variety, 

 found in the green-tea country, has been called Thea 

 viridis. The first appears to have been named upon 

 the supposition that all the black teas of the Bohea 

 mountains were obtained from this species, and the 

 second was called viridis because it furnished the 

 green teas of commerce. These names seem to have 

 misled the public, and hence many persons, until a 

 few years back, firmly believed that black tea could 

 be made only from Thea bohea, and green tea only from 

 Thea viridis. 



In my 'Wanderings in China,' published in 1846, 

 I made some observations upon the plants from which 

 tea is made in different parts of China. While I 

 acknowledged that the Canton plant, known to bota- 

 nists as Thea bohea, appeared distinct from the more 

 northern one called Thea viridis, I endeavoured to 

 show that both black and green teas could be made 

 from either, and that the difference in the appearance 

 of these teas, in so far as colour was concerned, de- 

 pended upon manipulation, and upon that only. In 

 proof of this I remarked that the black-tea plant 

 found by me near Foo-chow-foo, at no great distance 

 from the Bohea hills, appeared identical with the 

 green-tea plant of Chekiang. 



These observations were met by the objection, that, 

 although I had been in many of the tea districts near 

 the coast, yet I had not seen those greater ones inland 

 which furnish the teas of commerce. And this was 

 perfectly true. The same objection can hardly be 



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