THE HEATHER. 185 



Flower of the wild ! whose purple hue 

 Adorns the dusky mountain's side ; 



Not the gay hues of Iris' bow 

 Nor garden's artful varied pride, 



With all its wealth of sweets, could cheer 



Like thee, the hardy mountaineer. 



Flower of his heart ! thy fragrance mild, 

 Of peace, of freedom, seems to breathe ; 



To pluck thy blossoms in the wild, 

 And deck his bonnet with the wreath, 



Where dwelt of old his rustic sires, 



Is all his simple wish requires. 



Flower of his dear-loved, native land ! 



Alas ! when distant, far more dear ! 

 When he, from some cold foreign strand, 



Looks homeward through the blinding tear, 

 How must his aching heart deplore 

 That home, and thee, he sees no more !" 



In Great Britain we have seven species of heather, 

 including six Ericas and one ling, or Calluna. The 

 last of which, C. vulgdris, is so well known from the 

 distinguishing circumstance of its having an open, 

 bell-shaped flower, with a calyx of a similar colour. 

 The cross-leaved heath (E. tetralix), and the fine- 

 leaved heath (E. cinerea), are everywhere abundant. 

 The Mediterranean heath (E. Mediterranea),\ia,ssiS yet 

 been discovered only on Urrisbeg mountain, Conne- 

 mara, in Ireland, where it was found about twenty 

 years ago by Mr. Mackay in this place ; it covers a 

 space of about half a mile in length, and is supposed 

 altogether to extend over about two acres of land. 



The so-called Cornish heath (E. vagans), which is 

 our only Erica with a campanulate blossom, occurs 

 on the heaths of Cornwall, and was long supposed 



