224 OCTANDRIA— MONOGYNIA. Callana. 

 216. CALLUNA. Ling. 



Salisb. Tr. of L. Soc. v. 6. 3 17. Hull u. 1 . 1 1 2, 1 1 3. Hook. Scot. 1 1 6. 

 Erica. Gcertn. t. 63. Lam. t. 287. f. I. 



Nat. Ord. Bicornes. Linn. 18. Ericce. Juss. 51. Ericenece. 

 DeCand. 72. sect. 1. ^T. 217 the same. 



Cal. inferior, permanent, double ; outermost of 4 ovate-ob- 

 long, thick, blunt, fringed leaves ; mner of 4- elliptic- 

 lanceolate, concave, coloured, polished leaves, concealing 

 the corolla. Co7: of 1 petal, bell-shaped, deeply 4-cleft, 

 erect, much shoiter than the inner calyx. Filam. from 

 the receptacle, thread-shaped, short, curved. AntJi. ter- 

 minal, erect, lanceolate, acute, with 2 lateral oblong, ori- 

 fices, each combined, before the discharge of the pollen, 

 with the similar orifice of its neighbour at each side ; the 

 base bearing 2 deflexed bristles. Germ, superior, orbi- 

 cular, depressed, furrowed. Style nearly erect, cylin- 

 drical, the length of the inner calyx. Stigma capitate, 

 with 4 notches. Caps, concealed by the inflexed, per- 

 manent, inner calyx, orbicular, a little depressed, with 4 

 furrows, 4 simple valves, and 4 cells ; the partitions 

 simple, flat, alternate, and unconnected with the valves, 

 fixed vertically to a large, ovate, pitted, permanent, cen- 

 tral column. Seeds numerous, small, elliptic-oblong, 

 dotted, attached to the column. 



Shrubby, of humble growth, with little, opposite, imbri- 

 cated, evergreen leaves, and small, elegant, clustered, 

 drooping, rose-coloured j^ottJ^^r^. 



Although there is but one known species of this genus, the 

 most common, if not perhaps the original. Erica of Dios- 

 corides, Tournefort, or Linnaeus, its generic distinctions 

 are so very important, that I gladly concur with Mr. Sa- 

 lisbury, who first pointed out those distinctions. To avoid 

 the inconvenience of giving a new generic appellation to 

 the hundreds of plants, familiar to every body as Ericce, 

 or Heaths, he has judiciously called our common Ling, 

 Calliina, from kuKKuvm ; which is doubly suitable, whether, 

 with Mr. Salisbury and Dr. Hull, we take it to express a 

 cleansing property, brooms being made of Ling ; or whe- 

 ther we adopt the more common sense of the word, to 

 ornament or adorn, which is very applicable to the flowers. 

 Gaertner indeed was so struck with the peculiar construc- 

 tion of the capside, that he adds a mark of admiration to 

 his description. He takes the plant as the type of Erica, 



