96 



BRITISH FLOWERING PLANTS 



Flesh-coloured Heath — Erica Jierbacea 

 (Plate LIII) 



This plant, which we have selected to illustrate 

 the Heaths, is not British, but is found in the 

 mountainous districts of the Continent in open 

 woods and clearings, and prefers dry sandy slopes. 

 The roots are woody, strong and ramifying, and 

 penetrate rather deeply into the ground ; and they 

 throw up woody stems, which divide into many 

 offshoots. The leaves are small and dark green. 

 The flowers either stand singly in the axils of the 

 leaves, or form clusters on one side of the shoots. 

 The calyx is quadrifid, rather long and pointed, 

 and persistent. The corolla is flesh-coloured and 

 tubular. There are 8 stamens, and the stigma is 

 fringed with reddish hairs. The capsule has 4 

 cells, containing many small seeds. The flowers, 

 like those of many other Heaths, are very attractive 

 to bees. 



Several species of Heath grow abundantly on 

 waste ground or hillsides in the British Islands ; 

 but the many handsome species grown in our 



conservatories chiefly come from South Africa, 

 where they are very numerous and beautiful. 



The caterpillars of many handsome moths feed 

 on Heath, among which is that of the Emperor 

 Moth (Safurnia Pavonia-minor), the only British 

 representative of the family Satarniida, the Eyed 

 Silkworm Moths, to which the largest moth known, 

 the Indian Atlas Moth (Attacus Atlas) belongs. 

 The full-grown caterpillar of the Emperor Moth 

 is bright green, with transverse black bands on 

 which stand pink tubercles, each of which bears a 

 circle of stiff diverging hairs. The cocoon is flask- 

 shaped, open at the narrowed end. The moth 

 is grey, and measures 2\ or 3 inches across the 

 wings, which are bordered with brownish white, 

 and adorned in the centre with a large black spot, 

 surrounded with paler and darker rings, and 

 marked with slender red and blue crescents. In 

 the male the antennae are strongly pectinated, and 

 the hindwings are yellow. 



Among foreign species of Erkacea;, the Azaleas 

 and Rhododendrons are chiefly Asiatic mountain 

 shrubs and trees, though a few small species are 



