August, 1902. - 177 



A NEW ERICA HYBRID. 



BY REV. E. F. I^INTON, M.A. 



A FEW years ago the late Dr. Charles Stuart discovered a 

 heath in Connemara, which appeared to him and Dr. M'Far- 

 lane (then of Edinburgh), to whom specimens were submitted, 

 to be a new sub-species, or possibly a hybrid. They were 

 inclined to connect it with E. Tetralix, ly. 



When specimens reached me two years ago, through Mr. 

 W. B. Boyd, of Faldonside, Melrose, I noticed at once that 

 the exsertion of the anthers was like that oi E. mediterranean 

 ly {E\ hibemica Syme), a feature which distinguishes it from all 

 other Irish species. Following up this clue, I saw that the 

 narrow tube of the corolla, and the pale colour of the lower 

 part of it, were also borrowed from this source ; and the 

 combined evidence was strong enough to overcome the 

 natural objection that the flowering season of E. mediterra^iea 

 does not coincide with that of other Irish species. It happens 

 that the one plant of the Irish form of this heath in my 

 garden continued one year to flower into the summer, or 

 else bloomed a second time ; and in the moist climate of 

 Connemara this is, perhaps, more likely to occur; and so 

 the objection is entirely removed. 



The young twigs of E. Stuarti, as Dr. Stuart's heath has 

 been called, are clothed with plenty of rather long hairs, like 

 E. Mackaii, Hooker, whereas the twigs of E. Teh'alix 

 are densely tomentose and not hairy ; the leaves, also, 

 though varying much in breadth, are almost identical with 

 those of E. Mackaii, both in shape and clothing, and dijBFer 

 consequently from those of E. Tetralix, which are narrower, 

 and meal}' all over the under surface. I am convinced, 

 therefore, that this form is a hybrid between E. mediterranea 

 and E. Mackaii. The following description is taken from a 

 short account of the plant by me in the AriJials of Scottish 

 Natural History (1902, pp. 176-7) : — 



Erica Siuarii, nov. hybr. — " I^eaves in whorls of four, or 

 irregularly scattered, ovate-oblong or lanceolate, ciliate 



