^4 OCTANDRIA— MONOGYNIA. Caliuna. 

 216. CALLUNA. Ling. 



Salisb.Tr of L.Soc.v. 6.317. HullvA. 112,113. Hook. Scot. \\6. 

 Erica. Ga:rtnt.63. Lam. t. 287./. I. 



Nat. Ord. Blcornes. Linn. 18. Erica. Juss. 51. Ericinece. 

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



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

 thick, blunt, fringed leaves ; inney^ of 4 elliptic-lanceolate, 

 concave, coloured, polished leaves, concealing the corolla. 

 Cor. of 1 petal, bell-shaped, deeply 4-cleft, erect, much 

 shorter than the inner calyx. Filam. from the receptacle, 

 thread-shaped, short, curved. Anth. terminal, erect, 

 lanceolate, acute, with 2 lateral oblong orifices, 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, orbicular, 

 depressed, furrowed. Stijle nearly erect, cylindrical, the 

 length of the inner calyx. Stigma capitate, with 4 notches. 

 Caps, concealed by the inflexed, permanent, 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, central column. Seeds 

 numerous, small, elliptic-oblong, dotted, attached to the 

 column. 



Shrubby, of humble growth, with litde, opposite, imbricated, 

 evergreen leaves, and small, elegant, clustered, drooping, 

 rose-coloured^ow^y'5. 



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, 

 Caliuna, from xaXAuvw; which is doubly suitable, whether, 

 with Mr. Sahsbury 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 pecuhar construc- 

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

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



