The Chinese name of this plant is _theh_, a _Fokien_ word. In the Mandarin it is _tcha_, and the Japanese call it _tsjaa_. _Loureiro_, in his _Flora Cochin-China_, describes three species of tea. It is a polyandrous plant of the natural order _Columniferae_, growing to a height varying from three to six feet, and bearing a great resemblance to our myrtle. The blossom is white, with yellow style and anthers, not unlike that of the dog-rose; the leaves are the only valuable part of the plant. The _camellias_, particularly the _camellia sesanqua_, of the same natural family, are the only plants liable to be confounded with it. The leaves of the latter camellia are indeed frequently used as a substitute for those of the tea-plant in several districts of China. This shrub is a hardy evergreen, growing in the open air from the equator to the forty-fifth degree of northern latitude; but the climate that appears the most congenial to it seems to be between the twenty-fifth and thirty-third degree. Almost every province and district in China produces tea for local consumption: but what is cultivated for trade is chiefly in Fokien, Canton, Kiang-nan, Kiang-si, and Che-Kiang; Fokien being celebrated for its black tea, and Kiang-nan for the green. The plant is also cultivated in Japan, Tonquin, and Cochin-China, and in some parts of the mountainous tracts of Ava, where, in addition to its use in infusion, it is converted into a pickle preserved in oil. When tea was first introduced as a luxury on particular occasions in the wild districts of Ireland, the people used to throw away the water in which it had been boiled, and eat the leaves with salt-butter or bacon like greens. The Dutch are now endeavouring to propagate this valuable plant in Java, and for that purpose employ cultivators, who have emigrated from Fokien. The Brazilians are making similar attempts, and some tolerable tea has been reared near Rio Janeiro. The black teas usually imported from Canton are the _bohea_, _congou_, _souchong_, and _pekoe_, according to our orthography: the French missionaries spelt them as follows: _boui_, _camphou_ or _campoui_, _saotchaon_, and _pekao_ or _peko_. Our green teas are the _twankay_, _hyson-skin_, and _hyson_, _imperial_, and _gunpowder_; the first of which French travellers write _tonkay_, _hayswin-skine_, and _hayswin_. The French import a tea called _tehulan_, but it is artificially flavoured with a leaf called _lan hoa_, or the _olea fragrans_ of Linnaeus.