8o 
Tea. 
II.  THE  PLANT. 
{Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
I    February,  1903. 
In  its  natural  state  the  plant  is  a  tree  from  20  to  30  feet  high,  but 
under  cultivation  it  is  made  to  remain  a  shrub  from  3  to  6  feet  high. 
The  leaves  are  from  2  to  6  inches  long,  evergreen,  lanceolate,  ser- 
rated throughout  nearly  the  whole  margin,  distinctly  petioled,  and 
arranged  alternately.  The  flowers  are  somewhat  smaller  than  apple 
blossoms,  which  they  resemble  in  a  general  way.  They  have  a  per- 
sistent five-parted  calyx,  six  to  nine  pure  white  petals,  and  a  great 
number  of  stamens.  They  are  very  fragrant.  They  occur  singly 
or  in  groups  of  two  or  three,  in  the  axils  of  the  leaves.  The  plant 
is  frequently  grown  in  our  gardens  and  greenhouses,  because  of  the 
beauty  of  its  foliage  and  flowers,  and  the  interest  attaching  to  it  as 
a  plant  of  the  first  economic  importance.  The  seeds,  of  which  each 
flower  should  produce  three,  are  nearly  spherical,  about  as  large  as 
a  small  hazel  nut,  hard,  dark  brown  or  nearly  black,  and  enclosed 
in  a  horny  capsule.  The  fruit  itself  resembles  three  small  marbles, 
each  touching  the  other  two  and  all  three  sharing  a  tight-fitting 
jacket  which  tones  down  the  interspaces  but  conceals  little  of  the 
form  of  each  little  sphere  within.  It  hangs  by  a  short  stem.  In 
dropping  the  seeds  the  capsule  opens  at  three  places  from  the  stem 
downward,  each  sphere  having  one  opening  across  (up  and  down) 
its  outermost  surface. 
III.  GEOGRAPHY  AND  HISTORY. 
As  in  the  case  of  many  other  plants  which  came  under  cultivation 
thousands  of  years  ago,  the  exact  locality  in  which  the  tea  plant 
originated  is  doubtful.  But  that  it  originated  somewhere  in  South- 
eastern Asia  is  certain,  and  that  has  and  probably  always  will  be  its 
chief  home.  One  author  has  expressed  the  opinion  that  the  island 
of  Hainan,  lying  off  the  south  coast  of  China,  between  the  Yellow 
Sea  and  the  Gulf  of  Tonquin,  is  the  native  habitat ;  while  others 
think  that  various  parts  of  Eastern  China  are  entitled  to  the  distinc- 
tion. Most  plants  in  the  wild  state,  especially  those  of  a  hardy 
nature,  are  not,  as  a  rule,  confined  to  a  small  area,  but  have  an 
extended  range.  It  seems  reasonable  to  infer  Irom  this  that  the  tea 
plant  may  have  grown  not  only  on  the  island  of  Hainan  but  also  on 
the  mainland  over  an  area  of  many  hundreds  of  square  miles.  De 
Candolle's  investigations  of  the  origin  of  the  tea  plant  seemingly 
