352 FLOWERS OF GARDEN AND GREENHOUSE 



the tube crimson or reddish-purple, the lobes and top of the tube pure 

 white ; May and June. 



E. PUiiPURASCENS (purplish). Stems 2 to 3 feet high. Leaves oval, 

 with a long slender point. Flowers white, tinged with red : January to 

 March. There is a double form. 



Again we have to refer back to Erica, for general 

 instructions respecting soil, propagation, and after-treat- 

 ment of Fpacrif^. The same cautions respecting watering, drainage, and 

 repotting apply. In order to obtain strong shoots the stems should be 

 cut back with some severity soon after flowering, and the plants put 

 into a close sunny frame or house until the now shoots have made a fair 

 start ; then they should be repotted. For about two months during the 

 summer, they may be stood out of doors on a cinder-bed. They require 

 ordinary greenhouse temperature in winter. 

 Description of Flowering shoots of Epacris irnpressa, showing 



Plate 167. extremes of colour variation. Fig. 1 is an enlarged flower 

 of A, 3 of B ; 2 and 4, the same in section. 



SEA LAVENDERS 



Natural Order Plumbagine.e. Genus Statice 



Statice (Greek, statizo, to stop : originally applied to some unknown 

 astringent herb). A genus comprising between flfty and sixty perennial 

 herbs, with radical leaves, and regular flve-parted flowers. The petals 

 are free or united by their base only. Stamens, five, attached to lower 

 part of petals. Ovary egg-shaped or oblong, surmounted by the five 

 long thread-like styles. The species are found along the shores of 

 Temperate seas, and in salt-marshes, more especially in Western Asia. 

 Three species occur in Britain. 



Statice elata (tall). Scapes 2 feet high. Leaves oval, 

 "shortly stalked. Flowers blue, in small cymes gathered 

 into branched panicles ; branches three-angled ; July. Introduced from 

 Southern Russia, 1820. 



S. latifolia (broad-leaved). Scapes 12 to 18 inches high, much- 

 branched. Leaves large (7 or 8 inches long), oblong-elliptic, tapering 

 into the leaf-stalk. Flowers : calyx white, corolla violet ; the panicles 

 extensive and of great lightness ; June. Introduced from South Russia, 

 1791. Plate 168. 



(large-leafed). Scapes 2 feet high. Leaves 



Principal Species. 



