DISTRIBUTION OF THE HEATHER. 



tish Menziesia (M. coerulea), the most abundant kind 

 of heath in Norway, is, as I have already said, al- 

 most extinct on Dalnaspidal moor in Perthshire, its 

 only locality in this country (Scotland). 



"Every visitor in Ireland must be familiar with 

 St. Dabeoc's Heath (Menziesia pollifolia), which the 

 guides and peasants frequently sell to tourists at ex- 

 orbitant rates as a memorial plant. This lovely Heather 

 occurs in great profusion on the low granite hills to 

 the westward of Galway, all the way to the lower end 

 of Loch Corrib. It grows on heathy moors by the 

 roadsides, and although it is found a considerable way 

 up the mountain, it is there much less abundant, smaller 

 in size, and rarely flowers. The common bell heather 

 of our Highland moorlands (Erica cinerea) produces 

 the finest effect of all our native heaths, growing as 

 it does in great masses in bare places, especially where 

 the burning of the common ling has enriched the soil 

 with its ashes, and removed a formidable competitor 

 in the struggle of existence. It frequently purples 

 a whole hillside, and nothing finer, as regards effect 

 of color, can be seen even in the tropics. 



"The cross-leaved heath (Erica tetralix) is much 

 less abundant, growing in boggy places among the 

 yellow spikes of *the aphrodel and the snowy plumes 

 of the cotton grass. It is more like a hothouse heath, 

 with the rich clustered head of pale rosy blossoms. 

 But growing sparingly, and its color being more deli- 

 cate, its effect in the moss, and at a distance, is not 

 equal to its beauty close at hand. 



"That Australia and America have no true heaths 

 is a botanical aphorism. In Australia the tribe is 

 28 



