216 TREES AND SHRUBS 



localities should grow this beautiful Heath. The 

 difficulty at present is to get hold of the right thing. 

 I am glad to know, however, that some trade firms 

 are taking it up. It is said to grow 6 to 8 feet 

 high, but I have not seen plants half as high. 



E. mediterranean Of all the taller Heaths this is the 

 one, I think, that deserves to be most freely planted 

 in districts no warmer than the London one. The 

 three preceding species, so beautiful when seen at 

 their best, are more comfortable in the southern and 

 western counties. Of sturdier constitution, E. medi- 

 terranea may be planted in large quantities with a 

 view to producing broad effects. At Kew a group 

 70 feet across, planted three or four years ago, already 

 makes a striking mass of purple each spring. The 

 habit of remaining for a long time in full beauty, 

 which is so marked a characteristic of the Heaths, 

 is possessed to the full extent by this species. It is 

 beautiful from March to May, and is all the more 

 appreciated because the majority of the trees and 

 shrubs that bloom at this season have yellow, pink, 

 or white flowers. In the typical E. mediterranea the 

 flowers are bright rosy red, but there is a charming 

 white-flowered variety (alba), another with bluish 

 foliage (glauca), and a dwarf one (nana). The flowers 

 appear near the ends of the shoots in the axils of 

 the leaves, and are pitcher-shaped. The name medi- 

 terranea is misleading, for according to Moggridge, 

 the Mediterranean botanist, it is not a native of that 

 region at all ; it is rather of Biscayan origin, and is 

 found in Western France and Spain. 



