ERI'CA HERBA'CEA. 



EARLY DWARF HEATH. 

 Class. Order. 



OCTANDEIA. MONOGYNIA. 



Natural Order. 



ERICEjE. 



No. 22. 



From the Greek EREICO, to break, from its sup- 

 posed quality of breaking-, or rather dissolving, the 

 stone in the bladder. Herbacea, from the Latin, 

 herbaceous. It is sometimes called Erica carnea. 

 Several other synonyms also have been applied to 

 this species, but they are not in use. 



Perhaps no tribe of plants yields more ample evi- 

 dence of the rapid progress of floriculture in this 

 country than the present. 



Miller, not sixty years ago, described but five 

 sorts of heath as known in England; but at the 

 present period there are upwards of three hundred 

 distinct species. Out of this number, according to 

 Dr. Withering' s arrangement, five only are indige- 

 nous to Great Britain ; and unfortunately very few 

 of the exotics will bear the severity of our climate, 

 having been chiefly introduced from the Cape of 

 Good Hope. 



This heath may be raised from cuttings, but as 

 its procumbent branches increase freely, in any light 

 soil, a convenient mode of propagation is offered by 

 layers, which will root sufficiently to admit of sepa- 

 ration in eighteen months. 



Hort. Kew. 2, v.2, 366. 



