60 fi 



E R I 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



E R I 



in Staffordshire, Birmingham-Heath, and, as Ray says, not 

 only about Windsor, where Clusius observed it, but all over 

 England. This plant, which is little regarded in warmer cli- 

 mates, is made to serve a great variety of purposes in the 

 bleak and barren Highlands of Scotland, and other northern 

 countries. The poorer inhabitants cover their cabins with it 

 instead of thatch, or else twist it into ropes, with which they 

 bind down the thatch in a kind of lattice-work. They also 

 form walls with alternate layers of Heath, and a sort of cement 

 made of black earth and straw ; and these hardy people have 

 even been known to make their beds of it. In most of the 

 Western Isles they dye their yarn of a yellow colour, by boil- 

 ing it in water with the green tops and flowers of tliis plant; 

 and woollen cloth boiled in alum-water, and afterwards in a 

 strong decoction of the tops, conies out a fine orange colour; 

 mid in some of those islands they tan their leather with a 

 strong decoction of it. Formerly the young tops are said to 

 have been used alone to brew a kind of ale ; and Boethius 

 relates that this liquor was much used by the Picts ; and in 

 several of the isles it is said that they still brew ale with one 

 part malt, and two parts of the young tops of Heath, some- 

 times adding hops. In many parts of Great Britain, besoms 

 are made of it, and the turf, with Heath growing upon it, is 

 cut up, and dried for the fuel of the cottager, heating ovens, 

 covering under-ground drains, &c. Sheep and goats will 

 sometimes eat the tender shoots, but are not fond of them. 

 Cattle not accustomed to browse on Heath give bloody milk, 

 but are soon cured by drinking plentifully of water. The 

 branches of Heath afford shelter, and the seeds a principal 

 part of the food of many birds, especially those of the grouse 

 kind ; and for this purpose, the seed-vessel is formed and de- 

 fended in such a manner, that the seeds are protected a whole 

 year, or even longer. Bees collect largely from the flowers ; 

 and honey made from them was anciently supposed to be of 

 a bad quality, but in fact it is only of a darker colour. The 

 foliage affords nourishment to the phalsena quercus, or great 

 . egper moth. Dodder frequently entwines itself about this 

 plant, and gives it a singular appearance. Meyrick says, that 

 a water distilled from the flowers is a good application to in- 

 flamed eyes ; and an oil made from them is reported to be of 

 great efficacy in curing the shingles, and other cutaneous 

 eruptions. Almost every part of Europe abounds with He;ith, 

 especially the northern countries ; it is also common in all the 

 temperate parts of the vast Russian dominions. It is called 

 Ling in some parts of England; Griy, in Shropshire; and 

 Hather in Scotland. It is remarkable that Shakspeare enu- 

 merates Heath and Ling as quite distinct plants; the former 

 of these names is derived from the German Heide, and the 

 latter from the Danish Lyng. The Swedes call it Liuny ; 

 the Italians, Erica; the Spaniards, Brezo ; the Portuguese, 

 Vrze, Erice, Torga, or Estorga ; and the Russians, Weresk. 

 Common Heath, which overruns immense tracts, especially 

 in the elevated parts of northern countries, can only be effec- 

 tually extirpated by paring and burning. In some lands, 

 deep and cross ploughings, getting up roots with heavy har- 

 rows, burning the whole, and spreading the ashes, may be suf- 

 ficient. Dr. Anderson affirms, that wherever Heath abounds, 

 there is generated, by the rotting of the plant, a peculiar 

 black earth, that is not only sterile of itself, but has a power- 

 ful tendency to make any other soil unproductive, so that in 

 improving heathy grounds, the top soil should be buried by 

 trenching or deep ploughing. Propagation. Notwithstand- 

 ing the commonness of our British Heaths, they deserve a 

 place in small quarters of humble flowering shrubs, where, 

 by the beauty and long continuance of their flowers, together 

 with the diversity of their leaves, they make an agreeable 



variety. This, and the 23d, 36th, and Blst species, may be 

 taken up with a ball of earth growing to their roots, from the 

 natural places of their growth, in autumn ; the soil should not 

 be dunged; and the less the ground is dug, the better they 

 will thrive, for they commonly shoot tiieir roots near the sur- 

 face. They may also be propagated by seeds; but this is a 

 tedious method. 



2. Erica Lutea; Yellow Heath. Corollas ovate-acuminate ; 

 flowers heaped; leaves linear. The whole is smooth, with a 

 rufescent upright stem, two feet high ; branches scattered, 

 from erect spreading, wand-like ; branchlets also scattered, 

 filiform, very frequent, wand-like, short; leaves opposite, 

 blunt, grooved underneath, a line in length ; flowers on the 

 extreme branchlets, one, two, or three together, upright ; 

 bractes linear, obtuse, concave, pale ; calicine leaflets ovate- 

 acuminate, keeled below the tip, it varies with the corolla, 

 calix, and bractes, yellow or white. The whole plant being 

 covered with its shining golden or silvery flowers, is very 

 beautiful. Native of the Cape of Good Hope. 



Leaves in threes. 



3. Erica Halicacaba ; Purple-stalked Heath. Corollas 

 ovate, inflated ; style included ; flowers solitary. Stem smooth, 

 rugged, brown, flexuose, decumbent, strict, lofty; branches 

 alternate, divaricate, purplish; leaves crowded, lanceolate- 

 acute, smooth, flat above, convex beneath, and rugged about 

 the edge; peduncles tomentose, reflex; bractes ovate, acute, 

 approximating, many times smaller than the calix; calicine 

 leaflets ovate, acute, keeled, entire, pressed close, smooth, 

 pale, two lines in length ; corolla purplish, smooth, distinct 

 from all others in its flowers being the size of an acorn. It 

 flowers in May and June, and is the largest plant of the 

 genus. Native of the Cape. 



4. Erica Regerminans ; Self-sowing Heath. Corollas ovate ; 

 style included ; calices acute ; flowers racemed. Stem shrub- 

 by, determinately branched; branches rushy; leaves linear, 

 subulate, acuminate, even, patulous; racemes pointing one 

 way, nodding, on peduncles the length of the flower, flesh- 

 coloured; bractes remote, minute, coloured; c.iix red, lan- 

 ceolate, very small ; corolla ovate-globular, red, with a blunt 

 mouth ; antherae a little shorter than the corolla ; style in- 

 cluded, the length of the corolla; stigma subcapitate. 

 Native of the Cape. 



5. Erica Monsoniana ; Bladder-flowered Heath. Flowers 

 at the ends of obtuse branchlets ; calices calicled ; corolla ob- 

 long, inflated ; style included. The stem is erect, pubescent, 

 leafless, two feet high ; branches scattered, frequent, spread- 

 ing, covered with leaves, very short, simple; leaves in threes, 

 ovate, obtuse, convex beneuth, with a longitudinal groove, 

 flat above, entire, imbricate, smooth, scarcely a line in length ; 

 flowers solitary, nodding, on pubescent reflex peduncles; 

 bractes ovate, keeled, acute, white, a little shorter than the 

 calix, on the middle of the peduncle ; calicine leaflets ovate- 

 acute, concave, keeled, white, smooth, almost three times 

 shorter than the corolla, which is almost an inch long, 

 divided at the mouth into four very short blunt segments. 

 It resembles the third species, but lias ovate leaves; smaller, 

 less inflated, and deeply divided corollas; the flowers more 

 copious, and the stem erect. This plant is one of the most 

 beautiful of this beautiful genus, and has large while flow- 

 ers. Tliunbcrg found it in the interior of Africa. 



6. Erica Mucosa; Mucous Heath. Corollas subglobular, 

 mucous; style included. Stem frutc-scent, determinately 

 branched, with white awl-shaped decurrent lines under the 

 scars of the leaves, which are linear, even, pressed close, 

 scarcely longer than the interstices; flowers terminating, sub- 

 umbellcd, on peduncles the length of the flowers ; bractes 



