186 OCTANDRIA MONOGYNIA. [cii. VIII. 



four feet high : stem irregularly branched : leaves somewhat arrow- 

 shaped, closely imbricated on the young branches, which have a four- 

 cornered figure : inner calyx rose-coloured : corolla paler. There is 

 a variety with white flowers. Flowers in August : grows on heaths : 

 common. This plant makes excellent and durable thatch, is ca- 

 pable of being converted into ropes for various purposes, forms 

 excellent brooms, and affords a fine yellow dye. Grouse feed almost 

 exclusively upon it and Erica cinerea. Eng. Bot. vol. xv. pi. 1013. 

 Eng. Fl. vol. ii. p. 225. 596. 



7. ERFCA. HEATH. 



Calyx inferior, of four oblong, permanent leaves. Corolla 

 of one petal, egg-shaped or bell-shaped, four-cleft, withering. 

 Filaments hair-shaped ; anthers terminal, erect, cleft, united 

 before bursting. Germen superior, roundish. Style thread- 

 shaped, erect ; stigma obtuse 1 . Capsule roundish, four-celled, 

 four-valved, each valve bearing a partition from the centre. 

 Seeds numerous, minute. Named from erico, to break, on 

 account of its supposed property of destroying stone. 213. 



1. E. cinerea. Common Heath, Fine-leaved Heath. Anthers with 

 two serrate appendages at the base ; style a little prominent : stigma 



knobbed; leaves three together. Stem a foot or more high, 



branched : leaves narrow, linear, three together : flowers numerous, 

 in dense terminal clusters, drooping, purplish-red. It is applied 

 to the same purposes as Calluna vulgaris. A shrub : flowers in 

 July and August : grows on heaths, abundantly. Eng. Bot. vol. 

 xv. pi. 1015. Eng. Fl. vol. ii. p. 226. 597. 



2. E. Mediterrdnea. Mediterranean Heath. Anthers without ap- 

 pendages, protruded as well as the style ; corolla pitcher-shaped, 

 narrow ; leaves four together. A shrub : flowers in April. Dis- 

 covered in 1830 by Mr. Mackay in boggy ground, Cunnemara, 

 Ireland, covering a large space of ground. Eng. Bot. Suppl. pi. 2774. 

 Brit. Fl. 4th ed. p. 159. 598. 



3. E. cdrnea. Flesh-coloured Heath. Anthers without appendages, 

 protruded as well as the style ; corolla nearly cylindrical ; leaves 



four together. A shrub : flowers in May and June. Galway, 



Ireland; first found by Miss Martin. Bot. Mag. pi. 11. Brit. Fl. 

 4th ed. p. 159. 599. 



4. E. Tet'ralix. Cross-leaved Heath. Anthers with two simple 

 bristles at the base ; styles nearly concealed ; leaves fringed, four 



together. Stems from six to twelve inches high, branched below . 



leaves crowded, spreading, lance-shaped, four together, downy and 

 bristly: flowers in dense terminal clusters, rose-coloured, sometimes 

 white. A shrub : flowers in July and August ; grows in boggy 

 heaths : not uncommon. Eng. Bot. vol. xv. pi. 1014. Eng. Fl. vol. 

 ii. p. 226. A variety of this species with broader leaves, and 

 having the style longer than the corolla, found in Cunnemara, Ire- 

 land, is considered by many botanists as specifically distinct from 

 the present. It is the E. Mackdii, Mackay' s Heath. Comp. to Bot. 

 Mag. vol. i. p. 159. Brit. Fl. 4th ed. p. 158. 600. 



5. E. vdgans. Cornish Heath. Anthers without appendages, pro- 

 truded as well as the style ; corolla bell-shaped ; leaves four to- 

 gether. Stems about two feet high, branched : leaves linear, 



