VARIETIES OF THE HEATHER. 



A comparatively new variety of white Heather, 

 named Calluna vulgaris var. gracilis, was recently 

 shown at the exhibition of the- Caledonian Horticultu- 

 ral Society in Edinburgh. It remains in bloom consid- 

 erably longer than the common C. vulgaris alba. His 

 Majesty King Edward VII. was pleased to accept 

 plants of this white Heather for his gardens at San- 

 dringham. 



A writer in a recent number of "The Gardeners' 

 Chronicle" says : "There is a popular superstition that 

 it is lucky to find a spray of white Heather. I have 

 always supposed that a plant bearing white flowers was 

 a true variety, and would always bear white flow- 

 ers. My daughter, who has lately returned from the 

 south of France, has brought me a branch of the pur- 

 ple Heather, Erica cinerea, which has on it two spikes 

 of flowers one entirely white, the other entirely pur- 

 ple. It appears, therefore, that both may grow on 

 the same plant. She tells me that the French peo- 

 ple believe that the Heather bears white flowers when 

 it grows old." 



Among the colored-flowered kinds are: Alporti, 

 a strong grower, which bears rich purple blossoms 

 till late in the autumn ; Florepleno, which has blos- 

 soms of the normal color, but double, something un- 

 common among members of the Heath family; Coc- 

 cinea, the blossoms of which are very bright, as are 

 those of Dumosa rubra ; Tenuis, the flowers of which 

 are more of a scarlet tint, very bright and attractive. 

 There are several the distinctive features of which lie 

 in differences of foliage and habit rather than in 

 blossom. Among these may be mentioned Aurea, with 



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