198 FLORA DOMESTICA. 



HEATH. 



ERICA. 



ERICINEJE. OCTANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 



In some parts of England Heath is called Ling, probably from the 

 Danish, lyng : In Shropshire, Grig, from the Welsh, grug : in Scot- 

 land, Hather, or Heather ; which, like the English Heath, is derived 

 from the Anglo-Saxon, hseth. French, la bruyere ; lande ; la brande; 

 le petrole. Italian, Erica, Macchia, Scopina, Sorcelli, Brentoli. 



" THIS genus," says Mr. Martyn, " has, within the com- 

 pass of a few years, risen from neglect to splendour. Every 

 one remembers that Mr. Pope marks it with contempt, at 

 the same time that he celebrates the colour of the flowers : 



' E'en the wild heath displays its purple dyes.' 



" Mr. Millar, so late as the year 1768, makes mention 

 of no more than five ; four of which, as being wild, he 

 consigns to oblivion." 



There are now some hundred species ; of which many 

 require the heat of a stove, and very few of them are hardy 

 enough to bear this climate unsheltered. The species from 

 the Cape are many of them very beautiful. 



All Europe, and the temperate parts of the vast Russian 

 empire, abound with Heath. The Common Heath, which 

 is little regarded in warmer climates, is used for a variety 

 of purposes in the bleak and barren Highlands of Scotland, 

 and in other northern countries. The poor people use it 

 as thatch for the roofs of their huts, and construct the walls 

 with alternate layers of heath, and a kind of cement made 

 of black earth and straw. The hardy Highlanders fre- 

 quently make their beds with it. In the Western Isles it 

 affords a dye. Woollen cloth boiled in alum water, and 

 afterwards in a strong decoction made from the green tops 

 and flowers of this plant, becomes of a beautiful orange- 



