192 THE BOOK OF NATURE STUDY 



There are two other species of Heath very frequently found on 

 moors. The Bell Heather (Erica cinerea), easily recognised by 

 its egg-shaped corolla ; and the Cross-Leaved Heath (Erica tetralix) 

 with leaves, four in a whorl, and spreading. The flowers of this 

 species are large and pink, and the plant is very hairy ; it likes 

 wet situations. There are two other Heaths, found in S. Ireland 

 but not elsewhere in the British Isles ; they belong to the Pyrenean 

 region. Here it may be mentioned that there is a curious re- 

 semblance between the floras of Cornwall, West Ireland, and the 

 Pyrenees. It is supposed that, at a time when the western coast- 

 line of Europe was far more extended than at present, migrating 

 birds were able to carry seeds across from the Pyrenees to W. 

 Ireland, and that owing to the milder climate these plants have 

 remained there. 



A plant often associated with Heather on commons is the 

 Gorse, or Furze, or Whin. This plant does not require peat 

 as heather does, but is rather characteristic of sandy soils ; still, 

 these plants are often found together, the rosy purple of the 

 heather side by side with the golden blossoms of the gorse. It 

 was on Wimbledon Common that Linnaeus, as Mrs. Browning 

 relates, knelt down when he saw the Gorse in bloom and thanked 

 God for having made the world so beautiful 



Mountain gorses, since Linnaeus 

 Knelt beside you on the sod, 

 For your beauty thanking God. 



The Common Gorse (Ulex europceus) flowers early in the year, 

 and when old, may reach a height of four or five feet ; the Dwarf 

 Furze (U. nana) flowers later, and is of a deeper golden yellow 

 with smaller flowers. A variety of this species is very abundant 

 on the Welsh mountains. The Gorse and Heather seem, in some 

 districts, to be struggling together for existence ; the presence 

 of peat will probably decide the matter. In many parts of the 

 country peat is becoming denuded, owing to great dryness from 

 better drainage. If peat disappears in any district the Heather 

 will probably be ousted by the Gorse. Both these plants are well 

 adapted for dry situations. Their leaf -surf ace is very much 

 reduced ; in the Gorse many of the leaves are spines, in the Heather 



