CRIMSON HEATH 103 



It was especially burnt on the eve of All Saints' Day as a bonfire. 



" On All Saints' Day bare is the place where the heath is burnt, 

 The plough is in the furrow, the ox at work." 



ESSENTIAL SPECIFIC CHARACTERS: 



194. Erica Tetralix, L. Shrub, stem branched below, simple 

 above, leaves 4 in a whorl, fringed, lanceolate, downy above and on 

 the midrib, flowers rose colour, drooping, umbellate, terminal, sepals 

 linear, downy, ovary downy. 



Crimson Heath (Erica cinerea, L.) 



Generally distributed throughout Western Europe as far east as 

 Germany and N. Italy in the North Temperate Zone, there are no 

 records of the occurrence of this plant in any ancient deposits up to 

 the present. In Great Britain it is absent from Bedford, Hunts, 

 Northampton, E. Gloucs, Mid Lanes, S.E. Yorks, as far north as the 

 Shetlands. It is found at a height of 2200 ft. in the Highlands, and 

 is native in Ireland and the Channel Islands. 



Crimson Heath is an ericetal species like the Cross-leaved Heath 

 and Ling, and more widely distributed than the former. Both extend 

 sufficiently to give their name to the Heath formation, which is to 

 some extent of lower elevation than that of Ling, which reaches 

 generally a higher altitude. Both Cross-leaved Heath and Crimson 

 Heath are found on commons, heaths, and moors in the south as well 

 as the far north. 



The Fine-leaved Heath has a similar habit to the Cross-leaved 

 Heath and Ling. But in this species the leaves are three in a whorl 

 not four. The stem is shrubby, the plant as a whole bushy, with 

 woody, wiry stems, the bark being ash-coloured, and branched. The 

 branches are opposite, bearing linear, spreading leaves, smooth above, 

 transversely wrinkled, with a keel below and a furrow beneath, and 

 smooth. 



The flowers are deep purple, in dense racemes, in verticillate or 

 whorled clusters, and terminal. There are 4 sepals, lance-shaped acute, 

 and keeled, spurred. The corolla is monopetalous or tubular. It is 

 remarkable for the fineness and smooth green of the leaves, and the 

 deep purple spikes of flowers. 



The Crimson Heath is about i ft. high, and is in flower from 

 June to September. It is an evergreen shrub increased by means 

 of layers. 



