ER I 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



ERI 



505 



spiny; flower solitary. Stem suffruticose, a foot high, cespi- 

 tose, erect, with short rising branches, spiny stipules and 

 bractes ; flower pale violet, solitary, lateral, peduncled ; ca- 

 )ix two-leaved, with acuminate erect leaflets ; tube of the co- 

 rolla curved at the base. Native of Africa, in the suburbs 

 of Mosambique. 



Erica; a genus of the class Octandria, order Monogynia. 

 GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : perianth four-leaved; 

 leaflets ovate-oblong, permanent. Corolla : one-petalled, 

 bell-form, four-cleft, often bellied. Stamina : filamenta eight, 

 capillary, inserted into the receptacle ; antheras two-cleft at 

 the tip. Pistil: germen roundish, superior; style filiform, 

 upright, longer than the stamina; stigma crowned, four- 

 cornered, four-cleft. Pericarp : capsule roundish, smaller 

 than the calix, covered, four-celled, four-valved ; partitions 

 meeting with the sutures, or, according to Guertner, opposite 

 to the sutures. Seeds: numerous, very small. ESSENTIAL 

 CHARACTER. Calix : four-leaved. Corolla : four-cleft. Fila- 

 menta : inserted into the receptacle. Antheres : cloven. 

 Capsule : four-celled. It is difficult to guess at the number 

 of the real species of Erica: Wildenow has 137, but some 

 of these are duplicates. Our gardeners reckon about 300, 

 many of which are murely varieties. And yet it is probable 

 not a few remain to be discovered in the wilds of Southern 

 Africa. None are found in America, in New Holland, nor 

 scarcely in the Torrid Zone. The habit of the whole genus 

 is shrubby, very rarely arborescent. Their leaves are very 

 small, linear, lanceolate or ovate, imbricate or remote, entire, 

 ciliate or serrate, in some opposite, in most whorled, in others 

 again scattered ; bractes usually three, two opposite. The 

 flowers are either axillary or terminating, and variously dis- 

 posed, partaking of all the most exquisite tints of red, purple, 

 yellow, or orange, occasionally variegated with green or white ; 

 and some are entirely white. Antherse oblong or linear: 

 germen generally smooth. In some of the species the an- 

 therse are awned, in others they are crested, and in others 

 awnless; in some they are included within the corolla, in 

 others they are projected, or stand out beyond the corolla. 

 Hence this unwieldy genus is commotliously divided into 

 four sections, and these sections are again subdivided into 

 subordinate sections, according to the disposition of the 

 leaves. The inclusion or projection of the style also affords 

 another division of the species. The calix in some is double ; 

 and, lastly, the form of the corolla assists us much in dis- 

 tinguishing the numerous species. The campanulate and 

 ovate forms, with their several modifications, are the predo- 

 minating ones. All this may be best understood by the fol- 

 lowing table, which is of great use to exhibit these material 

 differences at one view : 



Anthers awned, from species No. 1 to 29. 

 crested, 30 to 43. 



awnless, 44 to 83, 85. 



included, 1 to 69, 85. 



standing out, 71 to 81. 



Leaves in pairs, opposite, 1, 2, 44, 45. 



in threes, 3 to 19; 30 to 38; 46 to 55; 71 to 76; 84. 



in fours, 20 to 28; 39 to 43; 56, 57; 77 to 79; 82 



to 85. 

 more than four, 29, 68, 69, 80, 81, 83. 



Style included, 2 to 7 ; 9 to 14 ; 20 to 21 ; 23 to 25 ; 29 to 

 35; 39; 44; 56 to 58; 60 to 66; 84. 



standing out, 1 ; 15 to 19; 22; 26 to 28; 36 to 38; 

 45; 47 to 52; 55, 59, 70, 72; 74 to 83, 85. 

 middling, 42, 43. 



Corolla bell-shaped, 1 ; 9 to 18; 21, 22, 37, 45, 47, 55, 62, 



64; 76 to 78; 81 

 VOL. i. 43. 



Corolla bell salver-shaped, 49. pitcher bell-shaped, 43. 



globular bell-shaped, 30, 31. 



globular, 20, 48, 64. subglobular, 6, 50. 



ovate, 2 to 4; 23, 24, 27; 32 to 36 ; 39 to 41, 46, 



54, 82. ovate bell-shaped, 51. 



ovate-conical, 7, 8. ovate-oblong, 42, 66. 



ovate funnel-shaped, 63. funnel-shaped, 85. 



oblong, 5, 28, 79. roundish, 53. 



cylindric fig-shaped, 69. 



cylindric, 19, 38, 59, 68, 71, 72, 73, 80, 83. 



fig-shaped, 25, 26, 29. salver-shaped, 61. 



club fig-shaped, 56, 57, 58, 60. 



tubular, 67. four-cornered, 84. 



This genus has, within the compass of a few years, risen 

 from neglect to splendour. Mr. Pope marks it with con- 

 tempt, at the same time that he celebrates the colour of the 

 flowers : 



" E'en the wild Heath displays iU purple djes." 



The plants of this genus which are natives of the Cape of 

 Good Hope, or the more interior parts of Africa leading to 

 that famous promontory, must be preserved in the dry-stove, 

 green-house, or glass-case. These may be increased either 

 from cuttings or from layers ; there are few but what may be 

 increased by cuttings, provided good young shoots can be 

 procured, especially if they be put under bell-glasses, and 

 the pots are set where they can be shaded, and have a 

 moderate heat. When the plants have become perfectly 

 rooted, they should be removed into other pots, filled with 

 the undermentioned composition, being then put into the 

 dry-stove or green-house, where some of them require to be 

 constantly placed. These plants should have a light and 

 rather poor soil to grow in ; a composition of bog earth and 

 light loam will suit them well. The third, twenty-ninth, 

 thirty-fourth, fortieth, forty-second, fifty-fourth, sixty-ninth, 

 and a few other species, have not yet been struck from cut- 

 tings, and must therefore be propagated from layers, which, 

 however, will not always strike the first year. The spe- 

 cies we shall now describe, are 85 in number, viz. 



* Ant/ierts awned; Leaves opposite. 



1. Erica Vulgaris; Common Heath. Corollas bell-shaped, 

 almost equal; calices double, the inner longer than the co- 

 rolla; leaves sagittate, imbricate in four rows. Common 

 Heath is a foot or two in height, or more ; the stems brown 

 and woody, very much branched ; the branches in opposite 

 pairs, mostly upright, round, downy, and reddish ; the 

 branchlets square; flowers solitary, on peduncles the length 

 of the leaves, from the sides of the branches, slightly nodding, 

 opposite, but generally pointing one way, giving the branches 

 the appearance of long bunches, but leafy shoots will be 

 always found at the end. The inner or proper calix consists 

 also of four oval-oblong concave leaflets, slightly adhering at 

 the base, alternating with the segments of the corolla, of the 

 same colour, and nearly of the same texture with them, five 

 times as long as the outer calix, open, but after flowering ap- 

 proaching with the points bent in. We may here observe a 

 curious instance of the gradual transition from the green her- 

 baceous leaves of the stem, to the more delicate texture of the 

 corolla, which is of a pale purple rose-colour, whitish to- 

 wards the base, divided two-thirds of the way down into four, 

 sometimes five, ovate, blunt, equal, open segments; filamenta 

 awl-shaped, double, to and fro towards the point, white, or 

 tinged with purple, springing from small glands at the base 

 of the germen. There is a variety with white flowers, and 

 with hoary leaves ; which has been considered by some as a 

 distinct species, and by others confounded with the 52d 

 species : it is common on Bagshot-Heath, Enville-Common 

 6N 



