HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



241 



NOTES ON "ERICA CILIARIS," L. 



By T. J. PORTER. 



SHORT descrip- 

 tion of this lovely 

 but local Heath 

 may be interest- 

 ing to some of 

 the readers of 

 Science-Gossip. 

 The Cornish lo- 

 cality of Ciliaris 

 is given by Pro- 

 fessor Babington 

 as Edgecumbe 

 Downs, near Car- 

 clew, but it is not 

 confined to Car- 

 clew, two or three 

 scattered plants 

 being met with, 

 during the past 

 month, at least 

 two miles away. 

 Carclew is a fine old country seat, situated about 

 half-way between Falmouth and Truro, and Cili- 

 aris grows in the greatest profusion about a mile 

 from the house. Some of my friends may reprove 

 me for thus exactly pointing out its Cornish home, 

 but I have done it with a purpose. The woods in 

 which the heath grows are swarming with pheasants, 

 and Colonel Tremayne, the owner of Carclew, 

 although always very glad to give permission to 

 bond fide botanists who wish to see it, or to fill a 

 gap in their herbarium, very naturally objects to 

 trotting tourists invading his game preserves, and 

 carrying away bundles of the heath. Verb. sap. 



The heath is most abundant in a plantation of 

 scattered firs. A rough mechanical analysis of the 

 soil shows it to be at least 70 per cent. sand. Here, 

 covering many acres, Ciliaris grows in all its glory. 

 Tetralix is met with, but is comparatively rare. 

 Cinerea is of course abundant, but less so than 

 Ciliaris. 



Many struggling stems come from one root, and 

 they are often from four to six feet long and nearly 

 as tough as those of Calluna. The leaves on the 

 No. 263. — November 1886. 



main stem are four in a whorl, and on the shorter 

 barren branches three in a whorl. They are ovate, 

 with revolute edges, hoary beneath, with a dark line 

 where the midrib lies, and light green above ; their 

 direction is generally forwards. Further, they are 

 ciliated, as the name implies, and the hairs appear 

 to be tipped with viscid matter, which may be drawn 

 out into fine threads like cobweb. The sepals are 

 still more viscid, and two racemes will stick together 

 somewhat firmly if placed back to back. What is 

 the use of these viscid drops ? 



In detail. The flower-stalks are from ^ to T 3 6 of 

 an inch long ; the sepals are ciliated, and have two 

 whitish scales lying upon them. The corolla is from 

 ts to -re °f aR mca i n length, and is of a bright 

 purple. The mouth of the corolla is oblique ; its 

 upper edge overhangs the lower. The anther is 

 not spurred as in Tetralix, and is of a brownish- 

 purple. The style is protruded, extending quite T ' g 

 of an inch beyond the upper rim of the corolla. 



The flower is, botanically speaking, a terminal 

 unilateral raceme. One side of the stalk is always 

 clear of flowers, which always spring from a leaf- 

 whorl. The flowers all point forwards, and are most 

 frequently in threes or fours : as they fade, how- 

 ever, they turn backward almost far enough to touch. 

 I have counted the flowers on a great many stalks, 

 and I find that those which first bloomed bore the 

 greatest number of flowers. The difference is marked, 

 and is probably owing to the gradual exhaustion of 

 the vital powers of the plant. Thus, on September 

 27th, I carefully examined several racemes with 

 this result : the numbers on those then in bloom 

 were 11, 4, 24, 6, 8, 14, 17; while tbe dead or 

 dying ones, which remain long on the stalks, were 

 45, 41, 48, 31, 29, 27, 35, and 38. Ciliaris is in 

 bloom from the end of July to the end of October. 



Perrawanvorthal, Cornwall. 



After the completion of the present volume of 

 the " Natural History Teacher," it is announced that 

 the title will be changed to that of the " Economic 

 Naturalist." 



M 



