THE 
MONTHLY MAGAZINE. 
No. 184. ] 
MAY 1, 1809. 
[4 of Von. 27. 
“6 As long as thofe who write are ambitious of making Converts, and of giving to their Opinions a Maximum of 
s* Influence and Celebrity, the moft extenfively circulated Mifcellany wil! repay with tre greateh® Efiet the 
§* Curiofity of thefe who read either for Amufement or Iniruction.”——-JOUNSON, 
ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
LETTER [V.—ON TEA. 
Nec vero terrze ferre omnes omnia possunt : 
Fluminibus salices, crassisque paludibus alni 
Nascuntur, steriles saxosis montibus orni ; 
Littora myrtetis letissima: denique apertos 
Bacchus amat colles; aquilénem et frigo- 
ra taxi. Virg. G. ii. 109. 
FTER the subject of tea had been 
introduced into your twenty-fifth 
volume, page 305, by E. N. and ‘page 
518, by Phytophilus, I presented three 
letters on this exotic, paves 1, 97, and 
201 of your twenty-sixth volume. Feel- 
ing then, a reluctance in too often in- 
truding upon your readers, on a solitary, 
though interesting vegetable, I courted 
the. assumption of it by some more able 
pen; and which indeed was accepted in 
page 414, of the same volume, though I 
cannot add that my expectations were 
fully gratified: I should not, however, 
have troubled you with any further re 
marks, had it not been for the botanical 
notices of Capel Lofft, esq. which also 
have not afforded me that clear infor- 
mation, which might have been antici- 
pated from this able writer. 
am encouraged to offer a more copious 
history of it, for the amusement, if not 
information, of your readers. 
Some account of coffee has been in- 
troduced into your miscellany, vol. xxvii, - 
page 23; and by Capel Lofft, esq. p. 28. 
In a subsequent number I may presume 
to trouble you with a few additional re- 
marks upon it, which will probably be 
the last letter on these beautiful ever- 
greens, from Tsyaa-PHILus. 
London, March 18, 1809. 
BOTANICAL DESCRIPTION. 
CLASS xili, ORDER i.—POLYANDRIA 
MONOGYNIA. 
The Caryx.—Perianthium quinque-par- 
tite, very small, flat; the segments round, 
obtuse, permanent. 
The Cororta.—The Petals six,* subro- 
* Among some hundred specimens of tea- 
flowers that I have examined, the greatest 
number consisted of six large petals, and ex= 
Monruty Mac, No. 184, 
Hence I 
tund, or roundish, concave : two exterior, lesss 
unequal: four exterior, large, equal, before 
they fall off recurvate. - 
The Stramina.—The Filaments numee 
rous,* filiform 3 shorter than the corolla. 
The Antheras cordate, bilocular. 
The PistT1L.-—The Germen, three globular 
bodies joined. The Sty/e simple, at the apex 
trifid. After the petals and stamens are 
fallen off, they part from each other, spread 
open, increase in length, and wither on the 
germen. 
The Stigmas simple. 
The PericarPruM.—A Capsule, in the 
form of three globuiar bodies united, -trilo- 
cular, gaping at the top.in three directions, 
The Sreps.—Simple, globose, angular 
on the inward side. 
The Trunx.t—Ramose, ligneous, round, 
the branches alternate, vague, or placed inno 
regular order, stiffish, inclining to an asa 
colour, towards the top reddish. 
The Pepuncies.—Axillary, alternate 
single, curved, uniflorous, in crassate, the 
peduncies encreafing in thickness, stipulate, 
the stipula single, subulate, crest alternates 
elliptical, obtusely serrate, edges between 
the teeth recurvate.] ; 
The Lraves.—Apex. emarginate, at the, 
ternally three lesser ones of the same form 5 
however, the number in the flowers vary 
considerably, which may account for the 
mistake of Dr. Hill and Linneus, (who 
described this plant on Dr. Hill’s authority, } 
who make the green and bohea tea two dise 
tinct species, giving nine petals to the fore 
mer, and six to the latter. —See Aman. Acad. 
‘Ve Vil, p. 248. Ha, Exot.i, 29. Kampyer. 
Amenitat. Exot. p. 607. Breyn. Exot. Plant. 
Cent. i. p. 3. Hist. de l' Acad. des Scien. 1776. 
p- 52. 
* From 250 to 300. 
+ Authors differ much as to the size of the 
tea-tree.—See Le Compt, Lond. 1697, 8vo. 
p- 228, Du Halde, Descr. Générale dela Chiney 
Paris, 1755, fol. 4 tom. Lond. 1736, 8vo. 
vol. 4, p. 92. Guil. Piso; in Itin. Bras. Amen. 
Exot. Lemgoie, 1712, 8vo. p.605.  Osbeck’s 
Chinz, vol. 1, p. 247. Eckeberg’s Account of 
the Chinese Husbandry, vol. 2, p. 3038. oh. 
{ No author hitherto has remarked this 
obvious circumstance; even Keempfer himself 
says, that the leaves terminate in a point. 
dAmeen, Exot. page 611.- 
Ou base 
