TEA TREE. 
Chinese province of Yunnan, to the southward 
of it. Several specimens of the Tea Plant, 
and of others chiefly cultivated in China, were 
procured by the Ambassador, and sent to Ben- 
gal ; in some parts of which, his JExcellency had 
been informed, were distri6i:s adapted for their 
cultivation. Such immense quantities of Tea 
are raised in China, that a sudden failure of a 
demand from Europe, would not be likely to 
occasion any material diminution of it's price 
at the Chinese markets ; though it might be at- 
tended with inconvenience to the particular 
cultivators who are in the habit now of sup- 
plying the Canton merchants with that article 
for exportation. 
*' A plant very like the Tea," Sir George 
Staunton adds, flourished at this time on the 
sides and the very tops of mountains, y*^here the 
soil consisted of little more tlian fracrmcnts of 
stone, crumbled into a sort of coarse earth by 
the joint a6lion of the sun and rain. The 
Chinese call this plant Cha-whavv, or Flov/cr 
of Tea, on account of the resemblance of one 
to the other ; and because it's petals, as well as 
the entire Rowers of the Arabian Jessamine, are 
sometimes 
