EEICACE^. 347 



drooping. Sepals 4. Corolla ovoid, globular, or campanulate (in some 

 exotic species tubular), more or less 4-lobed, and persisting round the cap- 

 sule tiU its maturity. Stamens 8. Capsule free, with 4 cells, opening in 

 as many or twice as many valves, each cell with several seeds. 



A genus of about 400 genuine species, besides the innumerable hybrids 

 and varieties raised in our gardens. Its geographical range is eminently 

 Atlantic. The greater number of species come from south-western Africa, 

 where they extend but very Uttle way to the eastward. In Europe also 

 Heaths are strictly western, with the exception of two or three species ex- 

 tending a considerable way eastward along tlie sandy wastes of northern 

 Europe, or round the Mediterranean to the frontiers of Asia. The genus is 

 otherwise unknown in Asia, America or Australia. 



Corolla shorter than the calyx. Leaves very short, all opposite . 1. Common S, 

 CoroUa longer than the calyx. Leaves in threes or in fours. 

 Anthers included within the corolla. 



Corolla nearly ^ inch long, oblique at the mouth. Anthers 



without awns 4. Ciliated 3. 



Corolla about J inch long, straight at the mouth. Anthers 

 with two awns, or little appendages at the insertion of 

 the filament. 

 Leaves 3 in a whorl. Flowers numerous, in oblong or elon- 

 gated racemes 3. Scotch K. 



Leaves 4 in a whorl. Flowers few, in terminal clusters or 



umbels 3. Cross-leaved H. 



Anthers protruding from the corolla, without awns or appendages. 

 Corolla eampani3ate or nearly globular. Sepals short. An- 

 thers short, with slender filaments 6. Cornish S. 



Corolla narrow-ovoid. Sepals Unear. Anthers oblong, with 



flattened filaments 5. Mediterranean H. 



1. Comnxon Heath. Erica valg'aris, Linn. 

 (Eng. Bot. t. 1013. CaU.una vtdgaris, Brit. Fl. Heath or Ling.) 



A low, straggUng shrub, seldom above a foot high. Leaves very small 

 and short, opposite, a httle prolonged at the base below their insertion, and 

 on the j'oung slioots closely imbricated in four rows. Flowers small, of 

 a purplish pink, often very pale or even white, on short pedicels along 

 the upper branches, forming irregular, leafy racemes. Calyx coloured hke 

 the corolla, with 4 smaU bracts at its base, often called an outer calyx. 

 Corolla concealed by the calyx, deeply 4-lobed. Cajisule opening by slits 

 opposite the partitions, not in the middle of the cells, as in most other 

 Heaths. 



The most widely distributed of aU the Heaths, extending over tlie whole 

 of central and northern Europe to the Arctic Cu-cle, eastward to the Ural, 

 and westward to the Atlantic, from Labrador down to the Azores. In 

 Britain very abundant. Fl. summer. It varies, either quite glabrous or 

 more or less downy, or even hairy. It is now generally considered as a 

 distinct genus under the name of Calluna. 



2. Scotch Heath. Erica cinerea, Linn. 



(Eng. Bot. 1015. Scotch Heather.) 

 TJsually more bushy, and rather taller than the common H., the leaves 

 linear, finer and more pointed than in any of our other Heaths, and 

 usually 3 m a whorl, with clusters of small leaves in their axils. Flowers 

 numerous, of a reddish purple, in very showy, dense terminal racemes. 

 Sepals small and narrow. CoroUa ovoid, about 3 lines long, straight at 

 the mouth, with 4 very small lobes or teeth. Stamens enclosed in the 



