ERICA. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



ERIGERON. 



46! 



and is excellent as a groundwork below 

 Azaleas. 



E. LUSITANICA (Portuguese Heath). 

 This is for Britain the most precious of 

 the taller Heaths, 2 to 4 feet high, and, 

 hardier than the Tree Heath, it may be 

 grown over a larger area. Even in a cool 

 district I have had it in a loamy soil ten 

 years, and almost every year it bears 

 lovely wreaths of flowers in mid-winter, 

 white flowers with a little touch of pink, 

 in fine, long, Foxbrush-like shoots. This 

 would probably perish in the north, but 

 is a shrub of rare beauty for sea coast and 

 mild districts. Syn., E. codonodes. 



E. MEDITERRANEA (Mediterranean 

 Heath). A bushy kind, 3 to 5 feet high, 

 best in peat, and flowering prettily in 

 spring. Although a native of Southern 

 Europe, it is hardier in our country than 

 the Tree Heaths of Southern Europe. Of 

 this species there are several varieties. 



E. SCOPARIA (Broom Heath). A tall and 

 wiry-looking Heath, reaching 8 feet or 

 more in our country, flowering in summer, 

 not showy. I have seen this in cold parts 

 of France (Sologne), and it is hardier 

 than most of the larger Heaths ; it is 

 often naked at the bottom and bushy 

 and close at the top. 



E. STRICTA (Corsican Heath). A wiry- 

 looking shrub, compact in habit, about 

 4 feet high, and a handsome plant. A 

 native of the mountains of Corsica, 

 nowering in summer. 



E. TETRALIX (Marsh or Bell Heather). 

 This beautiful Heath is frequent through- 

 out the northern, as well as western, 

 regions, thriving in moist or boggy places, 

 but also in ordinary soil in gardens. This 

 Heath has several varieties, differing in 

 colour mainly. E. Mackaiana is thought 

 to be a variety of the Bell Heather. 

 There is also a supposed hybrid between 

 this and the Dorset Heath. E. Watsoni 

 is a hybrid between the Bell Heather and 

 Dorset Heath. Flowering summer and 

 early autumn. 



E. VAGANS (Cornish Heath) is a vigorous 

 bush Heath thriving in almost any soil, 

 2 to 4 feet high. A native of Southern 

 Britain and Ireland, and better fitted 

 for bold groups in the pleasure ground 

 or covert than the garden. There are 

 several varieties, alba and rubra grandiflora 

 being the best, with St Keverne (rosy 

 pink) the most beautiful of all. 



E. VULGARIS (Heather: Ling). As 

 precious as any Heath is the common 

 Heather and its many varieties, none of 

 them prettier than the common form, 

 but worth having, excluding only the 

 very dwarf and monstrous ones, which are 

 useless except in the rock garden, and 

 not of much good there. Heathers are 

 excellent for forming low covert, and, of 

 all the plants, none so quickly clothes a 

 bare slope or shaly soil, not taking any 

 notice of the hottest summer in such 



situations. Among the best varieties are 

 alba, Alporti, coccinea, decumbens, Ham- 

 mondi, pumila, rigida, Serlei, and tomen- 

 tosa. Syn., Calluna. 



E. DABCECII (Daboecs Heath). The name 

 of this fine plant has been so often changed 

 by botanists that it is difficult to find it 

 by name in books, and I give it by the 

 Linnean name here. It is a beautiful 

 shrub 1 8 inches to 30 inches high, bear- 

 ing crimson - purple blooms in drooping 

 racemes. There is a white variety even 

 more beautiful, and one with purple and 

 white flowers, called bicolor. I have had 

 the white form in flower throughout 

 the summer and autumn on a slope 

 fully exposed to the sun, and in very 

 hot years too. Syn., Menziesia polifolia, 

 also Dabacia and Boretta. West of 

 Ireland. 



E. MAWEANA (Maw's Heath). Of this 

 Heath, Mr Robert Lindsay writes as 

 follows : " This is one of the handsomest 

 of all the hardy Heaths, and was dis- 

 covered by Mr George Maw in Portugal 

 in 1872. It may be best described as 

 a very vigorous - growing E. ciliaris, 

 which it resembles, but is more robust 

 in all its parts ; the flowers also, besides 

 being larger than those of E. ciliaris, are 

 darker in colour. It flowers from July to 

 December." 



E. MULTIFLORA (Many-flowered Heath). 

 Somewhat like a white Cornish Heath, 

 but dwarf and close-set ; flowers, in the 

 form usually grown, white ; many in close 

 racemes. Southern Europe and North 

 Africa on calcareous soil, thriving in 

 ordinary soil in gardens. 



ERIGERON (Fleabane). Michael- 

 mas Daisy-like plants of dwarf growth, 

 somewhat alike in general appearance, 

 and having pink or purple flowers 

 with yellow centres. They flourish in 

 any garden soil, and some are of a 

 weedy nature. One or two are best 

 suited for the rock garden ; of these, 

 E. alpinum grandiflorum is the finest. 

 It is similar to the alpine Aster, having 

 large heads of purplish flowers in late 

 summer, and remaining in beauty a 

 long time. Suitable for the rock 

 garden and well - drained borders. 

 Division or seed. E. Roylei, a Hima- 

 layan plant, is another good alpine, of 

 very dwarf, tufted growth, having 

 large blossoms of a bluish-purple with 

 yellow eye. By far the best of the 

 taller kinds is E. (Stenactis) speciosus, 

 3i vigorous species, with erect stems 

 that grow about 2| feet high, and 

 bear during June and July many 

 large purplish lilac Aster-like flowers 

 with conspicuous orange centres. E. 

 macranthus, another showy species, is 



