BOTANICAL HISTORY 



HEATHER (Calluna vulgaris) belongs to the nat- 

 ural order Ericaceae, and up to the early part 

 of the nineteenth century was known by the 

 appellation given to it by Linnaeus, Erica vulgaris. 

 An eminent English botanist, named Richard A. Salis- 

 bury, in a paper read before the Linnsean Society of 

 London, in 1801, called attention to some peculiar 

 characteristics distinguishing the Heather from all 

 other Ericas, and succeeded in having the name 

 changed to Calluna vulgaris. 



Salisbury's remarks are found in the Transac- 

 tions of the Linnaean Society for the year 1802; so 

 that the Heather has been in possession of its pres- 

 ent designation for just a century. I give his state- 

 ment in part in the original Latin, and the translation as 

 under : 



"Mirum fortasse nonnullis videatur, Ericam 

 vulgar em desiderari in sequentibus paginis : sciant 

 autem velim, hancce stirpem, si quae alia in toto 

 Ordine, proprium constituere genus : jure antiquiore 

 profecto suum nomen retinuisset, sed cum tot alias 

 stirpes, apud omnes Botanicos jam eodem cognomine 

 gaudeant, satius duxi hanc unam novo insignire titulo : 

 itaque Callunam appellavi, ob usum ejus frequentis- 

 simum in scopis conficiendis : essentia generis, qua 

 differt ab Erica, est in pericarpii valvis ad latera locu- 



