ERICA. 269 



mildew in winter, if any moisture is suffered to lie upon its 

 hairy foliage ; the leaves are linear, slightly spreading, and 

 furnished at the margins with a profusion of rusty-coloured 

 hairs, which give the name and character to the plant ; 

 flowers in whorls, a little less than an inch long, base of 

 tha tube red, shading oif to rosy red towards the apex ; it 

 blooms in May and June. Cape of Good Hope. 



E.flonda. — Leaves linear pilose, giving the plant a grey 

 appearance ; flowers terminal, in small umbels ; produced in 

 June and July. Cape of Good Hope. 



E. gemmifera. — A very handsome species, resembling when 

 out of flower a diminutive E. Massoni. The leaves are 

 oblong, ciliated with long hairs, armed at the point with a stiff 

 hair, and somewhat oppressed ; the flowers are slightly pen- 

 dulous, arranged in whorls of six to eight, or more, about an 

 inch long, tubular, the tubes stout, deep red at the base, 

 passing into orange red, and finally tipped with green ; the 

 foot-stalks of the flowers are clothed with long white hairs, 

 giving them quite a hoary appearance ; it flowers in July and 

 August. Cape of Good Hope. 



E. gracilis. — A beautiful ornamental kind ; leaves as well 

 as the branches and stems quite smooth, linear, four in 

 a whorl ; flowers small, reddish purple, forming long ter- 

 minal spikes, produced at the end of winter and beginning 

 of spring. 



E. gracilis autumnalis. — Very similar in general habit, but 

 invariably blooming during the autumn and early winter 

 months. 



E. grandifiora. — A beautiful species, with smooth linear 

 leaves, which gradually taper into a sharp point ; the flowers 

 are tubular, arranged in whorls, forming fine clusters of from 

 fifteen to thirty blooms, with about an inch of the green 

 leaves above them; they are of a bright glossy yellow, 



