Chap. XV. 
THE TEA-PLANT. 
243 
I must now make some observations upon the tea- 
plant itself. It has already been remarked that two 
tea-plants, considered to be distinct varieties, are met 
with in China, both of which have been imported into 
Europe. One, the Canton variety, is called Thea bohea ; 
the other, the northern variety, is called Thea viridis. 
The former produces the inferior green and black teas 
which are made about Canton, and from the latter are 
made all the fine green teas in the great Hwuy-chow 
country and in the adjoining provinces. Until a few years 
back it was generally supposed that the fine black teas of 
the Bohea hills were also made from the Canton variety, 
and hence its name. Such, however, is not the case. 
When I visited Foo-chow-foo for the first time in 
1845, I observed that the tea- plant in cultivation in 
that neighbourhood was very different from the Canton 
variety, and apparently identical with the Thea viridis 
of Chekiang. Foo-chow-foo was not a very great 
distance from the Bohea hills, and I had good reasons 
for believing that the Bohea plant was the same as the 
Foo-chow one ; but still I had no positive proof Now, 
however, having been on Woo-e-shan itself, and over 
a great deal of the surrounding country, and having 
dried specimens of all these plants before me, I am 
better able to give an opinion upon this long-disputed 
subject. 
I believe that the Woo-e-shan plant is closely allied 
to the Thea viridis and originally identical with that 
species, but slightly altered by climate. On the closest 
examination I was only able to detect very slight 
differences, not sufficient to constitute a distinct variety, 
M 2 
