98 FLOWERS OF THE HEATHS AND MOORS 



largely to those formations as to constitute, like Whortleberry, an asso- 

 ciation of its own. With it one finds Whortleberry, various Heaths, 

 Furze, and Broom, and it is more widely distributed upon the high 

 ground or hills in the British Isles, but in the south and elsewhere 

 covers as well many lowland moors and heaths over wide areas. 



Heather is a low-branched shrub, erect, downy, with reddish stems, 

 with small, threadlike, stalkless, opposite, erect leaves, overlapping, 1 in 

 4 rows, and arrow-shaped. The leaves are smooth, small, and hoary, 

 and hollow below. The stem is woody. A variety with downy stems 

 and leaves occurs. 



The flowers are purple, and are more or less turned one way, in 

 racemes, numerous, drooping, bell-shaped, on very short flower-stalks, 

 and the calyx is double, erect, i.e. in an inverted position, hairy on the 

 margin, red or green and purple. The corolla is small, enclosed in the 

 inflated calyx, persistent, with 4 lance-shaped bracts at the base giving 

 the red colour. There are 8 anther-stalks, the anthers nearly united, 

 being orange, and bearing two horn-like projections covered with rough 

 hairs. 



The plant is from 1-2 ft. high. The flowers bloom from February 

 to July. Ling is an evergreen shrub propagated by cuttings, and 

 worthy of cultivation. 



The flower is bell-shaped and horizontal, the stamens and pistil 

 are curved upwards, and insects press the proboscis under them, so 

 that less pollen is wasted than if they were in the middle. The corolla 

 is 2-3 mm. long, cleft, 4-fid near the base. Alternating with the 

 stamens are 8 black glands which contain honey, and can be reached 

 by short-lipped insects. When large bees cling to the flower with the 

 foreleg they weigh it down until it is vertical, and hanging on below 

 they suck the honey and dust themselves with pollen on the back. 

 Small bees thrust their head or proboscis down from the front, and the 

 upward bend of the stamens causes them to enter the lower half, and 

 thus dust themselves also with pollen. As the bud opens, the anthers 

 open, and the appendages, set with spreading hairs at right angles, are 

 so far apart that they are sure to be touched by the insect's proboscis, 

 and when the anthers are touched pollen falls. After the flo\v< r is 

 open the style, which is longer than the stamens, grows, and only com- 

 pletes its growth after the anthers have opened. Then the 4-fid stigma 

 is mature. The projection of the stigma before the opening of the 

 anthers ensures cross -pollination. It is not self- pollinated. The 

 visitors are Honey-bee, Bombus, Diphysis, Saropoda, Andreiia, Vespa, 



1 In damp places they are more spreading. 



