THE HEATHS 223 



same tendency to get sprawling and ungainly as 

 E. vagans. In other respects it is much like that 

 species, the leaves being of similar shape and 

 arrangement, and the flowers of a paler purple ; 

 the raceme, however, is only 2 inches or so 

 long. E. multiflora is not found in Britain, but 

 is a native of the country to the north of the 

 Mediterranean Sea from France to Greece. 



E. vulgaris. This is now classed as Calluna vulgaris, 

 but the word Erica is used to include it in this 

 chapter. It is the Common Heath of mountain and 

 moor, is very closely allied to the true Heaths, and 

 has given rise to many varieties. It likes a peaty 

 or sandy soil, and is longer-lived and more profuse 

 flowering under cultivation in poor rather than rich 

 soil. It is very charming when grown in natural 

 masses in the wilder parts of the garden, and its 

 value is all the greater because it flowers when 

 almost all other shrubs are out of bloom, viz., from 

 July to October. Numerous varieties are offered by 

 the trade, amongst which the following are the most 

 noteworthy, either for their beauty or for their dis- 

 tinctness : Alba (white), Alporti (crimson), aurea 

 (golden leaved), tenuis (red), pygmcea, and hypnoides 

 (both dwarf). 



Dabacia polifolia (St. Dabcec's Heath) is a lovely 

 little shrub, a close relative of the Heaths, and found 

 wild in the west of Ireland. It grows a little over 

 i foot high, and bears bell-shaped flowers rather 

 abundantly on erect terminal spikes. They are 

 purple or white, and sometimes have both colours 



