I 



W 1838.] Btport on the Tea Plant of Uj^jjcr Assam. 365 



feet, in lat. 25 o 40' N. ; in iat. 27° 20' this gciius ceases at 3,500 feet 

 Another species is common about Bamo, lat, 24 o 20' on plains, at an 

 elevation of, perhaps, 700 feet above the sea. 



Of Camellia five species are enumerated in the catalogue, but two of 

 these are doubtful ; of one, leaves* alone existed. The species which as- 

 cends the highest, appears to be C. Kissi, v^ hichis found on the Himalayan 

 %nge; at elevations of 4-6,000 fee t- 



C. cauciata, which on the Khasiya Hills occurs at an elevation of 

 3-4,5r'0 feet, in Assam, lat. 28, descends nenr y to the plains. A third 

 genrdne species occurs on the Naga range, towards the eastern extre- 

 mity of the valley of Assam, occupying the summits of hills of an ele- 

 vation of 1,000 to 1,500 feet. This species, Avhi.h attains the size of a 

 small tree, is Vv'-ell known to the Assamese and Sinsphos by the name of 

 Bun Full up or jungle Tea; being used by them as a medicine. The 

 two species that, in India at least, appear to be confined to the plains are 

 the Tea plant, and another which Dr. Wallich found about Tingrei. 

 Thus of these five ascertained species, three are natives of hills, two 

 of plains. I have elsewhere entered into the question, whether there 

 are two species of Camellia, which afford the Tea of commerce or only 

 one ; but a few other points bearing on this still remain to be consider- 

 ed. In thesize both of the plant and of the leaves, as well as in the 

 texture of these last, and in its stations, the Assamese plant approaches 

 to the Green Tea plant of China ; in its geographical distribution, so far 

 as latitude is concerned, it approaches to the Black Tea. 



The inflorescence of the Assamese plant varies, but, perhaps, its usual 

 state is to have the flowers solitary in the axils of the leaves. That this 

 is not the natural structure, however, is pointed out by the presence of 

 bracteee or scales on the pedicels. Hence no specific distinction can be 

 founded on variation in the number of flowers, for each bracte should 

 produce from its axil either a flower or a ramification of the inflorescence. 

 In fact, the number of flowers varies in the Assamese plant from one to 

 five. The other differences assigned by Dr. Hooker, in the Botanical 

 Magazine, new series, t. 3148 are not of much importance ; the question 

 can, as I have elsewhere said, only be cleared up by a botanist who has 

 s€en the plant in its various states in China. 



It would appear from the adoption of the term " Colony," as designat- 

 ing the tea patches or localities, as well as from some observations which 

 will be found at page 14 of Mr. McClelland's report, that this gentle- 



* From such materials was Camellia 1 Scottiaua Wall, constituted. 



