t 



65 



ERICA tumida. 



Scarlet bloated- flowered Heath. 



OCTANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 



r 



. ERIC J. Suprctfol.6. 





* 



Div. HI. 



Coniflorae grandes. 



Corolla inferne dilatatae, semunciu Ion- 



giores. Dryander in Hart. Kew. ed. Q. 2. 380. 

 Subdiv. III. A. Ant hertz aristata?. Idem, ubi supra. 

 E. tumida, pubcscens ; bractcis duabus subulatis calyci proximis, foliis 



decussato-quaternis, corollis villosis pluries longioribus calyce. 



Fruticulus strictus, undique extus villosus. ^ 



quaterna, vix 2 lineas excedentia, 



Folia patentissima, decussato- 

 linearia, obsolete subulata cum obtuso 



acumine, villis brevibus hirta, lateribus re/lexis in sulcum postkum conniventi- 

 bus. Flores aggregato-terminales, subquaterni, pedicel lo ipsis duplo v. ultra 

 breviore, opace sed Icete coccinei, ac cerinthoidis quos plurimum cernulant. 

 Cal. herbaceus, stellatus, ut pedicellus pills capitatis conspersus, multoties 

 brevior corolla, foliolis referentibus folia caulina nonnihil dilatata : bractese 

 duce conUguce oppositce horizontales externe versus directce. Cor. subu?icialis 9 

 ovato-cylindrica, injlata, villosa, ore constricta, lacinulis erecto-patulis, ob- 

 tusis, brevissimis. Stam. libera inclusa : anth. pallido-fuscce, aristatte, 

 aristis subulatis, serrulatis, anthera pariim brevioribus. Stylus exsertus 9 

 coccineus, Jilamentis pluries crassior, striato-teres, inclinatus, assurgens : 

 Stigma capitatum, obsolete 4^-gonum, aterrimum* 



We do not find this species registered in any publica- 

 tion that has fallen in our way, or if it is, we have not 

 recognised it. At a first glance our plant might be easily 

 mistaken for a variety of the more common Erica cerint ho- 

 icks, with which it participates to a considerable extent in 



habit and colour. 



But in tumida the foliage is on a 



much 



smaller scale than in that, the inflorescence disposed by twos 

 and fours, not in numerously crowded-flowered bunches; its 

 corolla is also remarkably distended and of nearly three times 

 the circumference of that of cerinthoides; its anthers are 

 awned, in that awnless; the stigma inclosed in that, pro- 

 truded in this. In tumida the corolla is about an inch long, 

 in the other somewhat longer; in both of the finest scarlet 

 hue, clouded by the pubescent covering of the exterior 

 surface. 



Introduced, we understand, about three or four years 

 ago by Mr. Niven, from the Cape of Good Hope. It re- 

 quires, like ail the congeners from that part of the world, 



