68 



LING. CALLUNA. 



COMMON LING, OR HEATHER. Calluna vulgaris. 



Plate 4, fig. 19. 



So common on waste commons and open tracts of ground, 

 that such places are called heaths, and Heath is the most com- 

 mon name of our present plant. Its leaves are a little hairy, 

 grow in four rows lapping over each other, and close pressed 

 to the stem. The flowers are a reddish purple, very numerous, 

 small, growing all along the young shoots. We use the stems 

 for brooms and for fuel; the Highlanders for many other 

 purposes. It clothes their wild hills, and its flowers empurple 

 their barren mountains. 



" Flower of the waste, the heath fowl shuns 



For thee the brake and tangled wood, 

 To thy protecting shade she runs ; 



Thy tender buds supply her food. 

 Her young forsake her downy plumes, 

 To rest upon thy opening blooms. 



" Flower of the desert though thou art. 



The deer that range the mountain free, 

 The graceful doe, the stately hart, 



These food and shelter seek from thee ; 

 The bee thy earliest blossom greets. 

 And draws from thee her choicest sweets. 



" Gem of the heath, whose modest bloom, 



Sheds beauty o'er the lonely moor ; 



Tho' thou dispense no rich perfume, 



NOT yet with splendid tints allure ; 



Both valor's crest and beauty's bower 



Oft hast thou decked, a favorite flower. 



" Flower of the wild, whose purple glow, 



Adorns the dusky mountain's side ; 

 I^ot the gay hues of Iris' bow, 



Nor garden's artful varied pride. 

 With all its wreath of sweets could cheer, 

 Like thee, the hardy mountaineer." Mrs. Grant. 



WILLOW-HERB. EPILOB1UM. 

 GREAT HAIRY WILLOW-HERB. Epilolium hir&utum. 



Plate 4, fig. 20. 

 Leaves deeply serrated, hairy. Stem much branched. 



Found frequently on river banks, ditches, &c., growing two 

 or three feet high, and bearing, in July and August, large, pink, 

 five-petaled flowers, each attended by a leaf, and growing upon 

 a long seed-vessel, that at first looks like a stalk to the flower, 



