38 ENGLISH BOTANY. 



barren branches, usually distant and larger on the flowering-shoots, 

 which are produced from the extremity of the barren branches of 

 the previous year, on which the small crowded leaves remain, some- 

 times annotinous, conspicuously pointing out where the flowering- 

 branch commences, thougli sometimes the difference between the 

 two is less marked. Leaves 4-farious, ^ to i inch long, generally 

 with the margins so much reflexed as to be sub-cylindrical : but I 

 have occasionally found it with broadly-ovate leaves, from the mar- 

 gins not being reflexed at all ; the upper side is generally pubescent 

 or puberulent : but I have specimens collected by myself in Orkney, 

 in which some of the shoots have even the young leaves glabrous 

 above and on the midrib. Elowers 5 to 12, in an umbel at the apex 

 of the stem, or an umbel with a whorl of flowers below it ; the ter- 

 minal flowers without bracts or leaves at the base of the pedicels ; 

 the lower whorl, when it is present, frequently with leaves at the 

 base. Calyx-segments strapshaped-lanceolate, varying to ovate, and, 

 as well as the pedicels, generally more or less finely woolly-pubescent, 

 with white hairs on the back. Corolla | inch long, pale-rose, with the 

 upper side usually deep-rose, very slightly ventricose on the upper 

 side, with the mouth a little oblique. Plant deep-green, varying 

 much in the quantity of pubescence — sometimes wholly hoary- 

 pubescent with curled woolly hairs, in which state it was found by 

 Mr. Borrer in Cornwall. 



Cross-leaved Heath. 

 French, Bruyere in, Quatre Faces. German, Sumpj-Glochenlieide. 



This is the most widely distributed and best known of all our native heaths. It 

 is commonly found growing with the heather, or Ccdluna vulgaris, from which it is 

 well to distinguish it. The larger and more bell-like blossoms of the Erica, and its 

 downy appearance, are the ordinary marks by which it may be recognized. These 

 heath flowei-s were adopted as the badges of the Highland clans ; and, although this 

 heath is not especially a Scotch plant, the Erica -Tetralix was borne by the Macdonalds, 

 the Erica cinerea by the Macalisters, and the Calluna vulgaris by the Macdonnells. 

 All these plants grow together on the moors and fells of the North of England and 

 Scotland, and give a peculiar aspect to the landscape, shedding, as it were, a purple 

 hue over the distant mountains, and forming a characteristic feature of these northern 

 districts. 



Sub-Species II.— Erica Mackaiana. Bah. 



Plate DCCCXC. 



Erica Mackaii, Hook Benth. in J). 0. Prod. Vol. VII. p. GC>5. Hook & Am. Brit. Fl. 



ed. viii. p. 271. 

 E. Tetralix, var. Benth. Handbook Brit. Fl. p. 348. 



Stem sub-corymbosely branched ; flowering-branches all attain- 

 ing nearly the same height. Leaves with the margins less rolled 



