224 OCTANDRIA— MONOGYNIA. Calluna. 

 216. CALLUNA. Ling. 



Sal,isb.TrofL.Soc.v.6.3l7. Hullv.\. 112,113. Hook. Scot. 116. 

 Erica. Gccrtn t.Q3. Lam. t.287.f. \. 



Nat. Ord, Bicornes. Linn. 18. Ericcc. Juss. 51. Ericinece. 

 DeCand. 72. sect. 1. JV. 217 the same. 



Cal. in ferior, permanent, double ; outermost of 4 ovate-oblong, 

 thick, blunt, fringed leaves ; inner of 4 elliptic-lanceolate, 

 concave, coloured, polished leaves, concealing the corolla. 

 Cor. of 1 petal, bell-shaped, deeply 4-cleft, erect, much 

 shorter than the inner calyx. Filam. from the receptacle, 

 thread-shaped, short, curved. A7ith. terminal, erect, 

 lanceolate, acute, with 2 lateral oblong orifices, each 

 combined, before the discharge of the pollen, with the 

 similar orifice of its neighbour at each side; tlie base 

 bearing 2 deflexed bristles. Germ, superior, orbicular, 

 depressed, furrowed. Style nearly erect, cylindrical, the 

 length of the inner calyx. Stigma capitate, with 4 notches. 

 Caps, concealed by the inflexed, permanent, inner calyx, 

 orbicular, a little depressed, with 4 furrows, 4 simple 

 valves, and 4 cells ; the partitions simple, flat, alternate, 

 and unconnected with the valves, fixed vertically to a 

 large, ovate, pitted, permanent, central column. Seeds 

 numerous, small, elliptic-oblong, dotted, attached to the 

 column. 



Shrubby, of humble growth, with litde, opposite, imbricated, 

 evergreen leaves, and small, elegant, clustered, drooping, 

 rose-coloured^owf/s. 



Although there is but one known species of this genus, the 

 most common, if not perhaps the original. Erica of Dios- 

 corides, Tournefort, or Linnaeus, its generic distinctions 

 are so very important, that I gladly concur with Mr. Sa- 

 lisbury, who first pointed out those distinctions. To avoid 

 the inconvenience of giving a new generic appellation to 

 the hundreds of plants, familiar to every body as Ericce, 

 or Heaths, he has judiciously called our common Ling, 

 Calluna., from KctkXwco; which is doubly suitable, whether, 

 with Mr. Salisbury and Dr. Hull, we take it to express a 

 cleansing property, brooms being made of Ling ; or whe- 

 ther we adopt the more common sense of the word, to 

 ornament or adorn, which is very applicable to the flowers. 

 Gaertner indeed was so struck with the peculiar construc- 

 tion of the capsule, that he adds a mark of admiration to 

 his description. He takes the plant as the type of Erica, 



