ERICA 521 



Valley it is apt to be short-lived, growing too fast in the early summer and 

 often scorched by excessive heat in July and August. It is improved by 

 cutting over in the early spring before growth starts. It has varied much in 

 the colour of the flowers, and nurserymen offer some half a dozen varieties. 

 The three following are the most distinct : 



Var. ALBA. Flowers pure white. 



Var. ATROPURPUREA. Flowers deeper purple than in the type. 



Var. COCCINEA. Flowers red, almost scarlet, and not at all purplish. A 

 very striking variety, but not vigorous like the type. 



These and the type are worth planting freely for producing broad masses 

 of colour at a season when comparatively few shrubs are in bloom. 



E. DARLEYENSIS, Bean. 

 (E. mediterranea hybrida, Hort. ; E. hybrida, Hort?) 



This heath first appeared in the great heath nursery of Messrs James Smith 

 & Son, at Darley Dale, in Derbyshire, and showed characters intermediate 

 between those of E. carnea and E. mediterranea. They named it " E. medi- 

 terranea hybrida," but as it shows as much, or more, affinity with E. carnea, 



1 have adopted another name for it. The name "hybrida" has been given to 

 it, but that is already in use for a Cape heath. In the characters of its leaves, 

 young wood, and flowers it is identical with those two species, which them- 

 selves scarcely differ ; but planted in groups it eventually forms dense masses 



2 ft. high at least twice as high as carnea, yet never showing any disposition 

 to grow erect, and form a single stem like mediterranea. Quite young plants 

 are scarcely distinguishable from E. carnea, but soon show they are not the 

 same by their stronger growth. A valuable character of E. darleyensis is its 

 habit of commencing to flower as early as November at least a month before 

 E. carnea and continuing until May. It ought to be in every garden. 



E. LUSITANICA, Rudolph. 

 (Bot. Mag., t. 8018 ; E. codonodes, Lindley.*) 



An erect, elegant shrub, eventually 10 to 12 ft. high, forming large plumose 

 branches ; young shoots clothed with simple hairs. Leaves about in. long, 

 linear, slightly grooved beneath, irregularly arranged. Flowers slightly 

 fragrant, produced in great profusion during March and April, or even in 

 January and February in mild seasons and warm districts ; they are borne in 

 clusters towards the end of small lateral twigs. Corolla cylindrical, ^ in. 

 long, white ; calyx and flower-stalk smooth, the former with triangular teeth ; 

 stamens and style deep pink. 



Native of S.W. Europe ; introduced early in the nineteenth century, The 

 only other species with which this is likely to be confused is E. arborea. From 

 it E. lusitanica differs in the paler foliage, in the more plumose erect branching, 

 in the hairs on the young shoots being unbranched, and in the longer, larger, 

 but less fragrant flowers with a small red stigma. Seen together they are 

 quite distinct. E. lusitanica is, if anything, more tender than E. arborea, but 

 thrives exceedingly well in the south-west counties. At Lytchet Heath, near 

 Poole, the progeny of a single plant have naturalised themselves in thousands, 

 and now cover i^ acres of ground. Near London, it will not survive any 

 lengthened exposure to much more than 20 of frost. This heath flowers with 

 extraordinary profusion, the whole plant with its pyramidal branches I to 2 ft. 

 long, being covered with blossoms which last long in beauty. 



