Wanderings of a Naturalist 



dormant, blossoming long after their time, or dropped to the 

 ground. The contrast during the last days of August, 

 1919, between the heather in central Aberdeenshire and the 

 Hebrides was a striking one, for in the latter district the 

 summer had been uniformly wet and cold, whereas in 

 Aberdeenshire the drought was the most severe for half a 

 century. 



White heather of the three species is not uncommonly 

 met with. Calluna vulgaris gives the largest areas, but owing 

 to the craze for "white heather," these areas are rapidly 

 decreasing in all the more accessible districts. During a 

 recent summer I came across a plant of Erica cinerea of a 

 very unusual colour — a mauve tinge which this heather is 

 normally wont to assume in the dried state. In this case, 

 however, the plant was alive and vigorous. In the Hebrides 

 and along the western coast all heather is far more sturdy 

 and prostrate in habit than in inland districts. This is owing 

 to the constant moisture-laden gales which sweep in from the 

 Atlantic. 



Along the western seaboard of Ireland, which in many 

 places closely resembles the Western Highlands, a fine 

 heather — Erica Mediterranea^~is found. This heath grows 

 usually on the hillsides facing away from the Atlantic 

 storms, and is the largest of the ericas I have mentioned. 

 Curiously enough, it blossoms in December, January, and 

 February, and it is very pleasing to see areas of its handsome 

 flowers at a time when all other wild plant life is dormant. 

 It is not, I think, met with anywhere along the western 

 seaboard of Scotland. 



St. Dabeoc's heath — Dabeocia polifolia — is another heath, 

 and an extremely beautiful one at that, which is found in 

 Ireland and not in Scotland. It resembles somewhat a very 

 large and handsome plant of Erica cinerea, with beautiful 

 crimson flowers. I have seen it flowering along the seaboard 

 of Connemara in mid-August. 



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