

46 THE LADIES FLOWER-GARDEN 
GENUS IV. 
THEA Lin. THE THA. 
Lin. Syst. MONADELPHIA POLYANDRIA. 
Generic Cuaracter.—Calyx of five sepals. Petals five to nine, | at the apex. Capsules three-berried, or three-seeded ; the dissepiments 
disposed in two or three rows, cohering at the very base. Stamens | are formed from the edges of the valves being bent inwards, (G7t.) 
almost unconnected to the very base. Anthers roundish. Style trifid 
Description, &c.—This genus was separated from Camellia from a few botanical differences, not perceptible 
to any eyes but those of a botanist. In the Camellia, the stamens are generally conspicuously united at the base, 
but in the Tea they adhere together very slightly. The anthers are differently shaped, and the capsules are 
smooth on the outside, instead of being furrowed ; the divisions inside are also formed by the edges of the valves 
being bent inwards, instead of having a dissepiment running down the centre of each valve, as in the Camellia. 
All the kinds of Tea resemble the Camellias, in being beautiful evergreen shrubs, with shining laurel-like leaves ; 
but they differ in the flowers, which are much smaller in the Tea, and always white. The name of Thea is altered 
from T’cha, the Chinese name for tea. 

1.—THEA VIRIDIS Zin. THE GREEN TEA. 
Synonymes.—T, Bohea laxa Ait.; T. chinensis var. @ viridis Dec.; | Speciric Cuaracter.—Leaves elliptic-lanceolate, coriaceously mem- 
T. cantonensis Lour.; Camellia viridis Zink. branaceous, waved and wrinkled, convex from the margins being 
Encravines.—Bot. Mag., t. 3148; Lodd. Bot. Cab., t. 227; | yvecurved. Flowers solitary, axillary, on a short peduncle, drooping, 
Woody. Med. Bot. Supp. 116, t. 256; and our fig. 4, in Pl. 13. 
Derscrietion, &c.—This species forms a handsome free-growing shrub, rising to the height of eight or ten 
feet, and requiring very slight protection. The leaves are rather broad, and their margins curve inwards. They 
are of a much thinner texture than those of the Camellia, and not of so dark a green on the upper surface ; 
they are much paler below, with the midrib and veins prominent. The flowers are solitary, seldom more than 
one on each branch, and that near the top of the shoot, and drooping, so that the flower is scarcely seen without 
looking on the underside of the branches. The branches are large and spreading, and the tree, which is very 
nearly hardy, grows very rapidly, and with great vigour. Though this plant is called the green tea, it is said 
that both green and black tea are made from it, as they are also from the black tea; but the finer teas are 
generally made from the green. ‘The tea called peko, is said to be made entirely from the half-opened buds of 
the green tea. It is said that there are thirty-six different kinds of tea made in China, and of these about 
twenty kinds are made from Thea viridis. The Japanese have a curious fable respecting the origin of tea. “An 
Indian prince, a holy and religious character, of the name of Darma, visited China about the year 516 of the 
Christian era, with the view to instruct the natives in the duties of religion. He led himself a life of great 
abstinence, and denied all manner of rest or relaxation to his body; but he was at length so weary of his fatigues 
and fasting, that he fell asleep. As a penance for so great a dereliction of duty, he cut off both his eyebrows, 
the instruments and ministers of his crime, and threw them upon the ground ; each eyebrow became a shrub, 
and those shrubs the black and green Tea, whose virtues were till then as unknown to the world as the plant itself. 
Darma quickly discoyered the agreeable properties of the foliage, which endowed his mind with fresh powers 
to pursue his divine meditations. Haying recommended the use of it to his disciples, it soon became general in 
China, and has now extended to the remotest regions of the earth; while the individual who first discovered 



