Am.  Jour.  Pharm. ) 
February,  1903.  J 
Tea. 
79 
open.  It  was  noted,  however,  that  the  resulting  kernels  were  not 
so  tough  as  the  ordinary  dry  popcorn  kernels  that  had  been  popped 
at  the  same  degree. 
Allowing  these  kernels  to  dry  on  the  surface  for  another  twenty- 
four  hours,  and  then  popping,  gave  us  a  very  pleasant  surprise,  in 
that  the  resulting  kernels  of  popped  corn  were  not  only  very  large, 
light  and  flaky,  but  had  absolutely  no  suggestion  of  toughness  when 
first  popped. 
In  this  connection  it  would  be  interesting  to  know  more  of  the 
damage  done  to  the  cell -structures,  and  also  to  determine  the 
amount  of  soluble  material  produced  by  the  change  in  the  starch. 
TEA. 
By  Wm.  B.  Marshal. 
I.  BOTANY. 
At  the  present  day  it  is  pretty  well  established  that  there  is  only 
one  species  of  tea,  viz.,  Thea  sinensis,  L.  In  the  second  edition  of 
Species  Plantarum,  Linnaeus  divided  T.  sinensis  into  two  species:  7. 
bohea  and  T.  viridis,  the  former  to  include  the  plants  from  which  the 
black  teas  are  made  and  the  latter  the  plants  from  which  the  green 
teas  are  made.  Other  authors  have  described  other  supposed  species. 
All  of  these  are  now  referred  to  T.  sinensis.  If  there  be  any  differ- 
ences they  are  at  best  merely  varietal  and  are  most  likely  due  to 
changes  effected  by  ages  of  cultivation  and  selection.  Robert 
Fortune  found  that  in  the  Canton  district,  which  prepares  black  tea 
only,  T.  bohea  is  grown ;  in  the  Chekiang  district,  which  prepares 
green  tea  only,  7.  viridis  is  grown  ;  but  in  the  Fokien  district,  which 
prepares  black  tea  only,  7.  viridis  is  the  variety  commonly  cultivated. 
Until  recently  Thea  and  its  close  ally  Camellia  were  placed  in  the 
order  Ternstrcemiaceae  but  are  now  placed  in  a  separate  order  named 
Theaceae.  The  tea  is  important  for  its  leaf.  The  Camellias  are 
important  for  their  floral  beauty ;  several  species,  especially  Camellia 
oleifera,  are  extensively  cultivated  for  the  seeds,  which  yield,  upon 
boiling,  tea  oil  resembling  olive  oil  and  similarly  used  in  China ;  and 
one  species  yields  Sasanqua  tea,  and  its  flowers,  for  which  it  is  chiefly 
cultivated,  are  used  to  flavor  some  kinds  of  the  true  tea. 
