MOORLAND PLANTS 211 



one of the Heaths. When we speak of Heather, it is 

 this plant which we mean. The stem is woody, tough 

 and dry, branching continually, and never attaining a 

 considerable height. It is densely clothed with leaves. 

 The leaves are very small and pointed ; they spring 

 one exactly beneath another, in four rows, which run 

 at equal distances up the stem. Each leaf is hollow 

 above and prominent below, so that when the row 

 closes up, as it does at certain seasons, the leaves fit 

 neatly together. A glance at the actual plant will 

 reveal the arrangement at once, but as the parts are 

 minute, a lens should be employed to aid the eye. 

 Why do the leaves overlap ? I suppose because they 

 can thus screen one another from the air. If the air 

 is very dry or very cold, the leaves will be protected 

 by the smallness of their exposed surface. Young 

 and tender leaves are often protected by close packing, 

 but in Heather the arrangement is lasting, and can be 

 turned to account at any time. 



Heather is a singularly dry plant, and for this reason 

 it is very slow to wither. Breaking the stem across 

 makes little difference to the leaves and flowers for a 

 long time, for the stem transmits very little water. 

 Heather is eminently fit to endure summer drought, 

 which is one serious incident in the life of moorland 

 plants, though possibly not the most trying of all. 



The Crowberry, which grows so plentifully on the~^ 

 moors, is often taken to be a kind of Heath, and it 

 really looks like a Heath, being of low, trailing habit, 

 with wiry stems and crowded, evergreen leaves. The 

 flowers, however, differ conspicuously from those of 

 any true Heath. 



P 2 



