chap. lxix. erica^ceje. andro'med//. 1105 



about 10 in., and in the month of April turned out my plants. Many of 

 these grew to admiration, and flowered beautifully in the following autumn. 

 Having succeeded thus far, and being fearful lest the plants should be dis- 

 figured, or perhaps killed, by the winter's frost, I proceeded to erect a tem- 

 porary frame over them, with melon lights, old sashes, and feather-edged 

 boards ; the latter serving for the back, and nearly half of the roof sloped 

 backwards, and the old sashes for the frout and ends, so that the whole, when 

 finished, looked something like a little green-house. The lights were always 

 off in mild weather, and also in frosty weather during the day when the sun 

 shone. In the month of April the frame was removed, and during the sum- 

 mer the plants grew rapidly, presenting a mass of vigorous shoots, covered 

 with most beautiful foliage, and flowers of a very superior size and brilliancy 

 of colour. This clump was admired by all who saw it. The species con- 

 sisted of [we give the old names] .Erica coccinea, verticillata, grandiflora, 

 cruenta, ignescens, versicolor, mammosa, costata, tubiflora, Archevidtia, curvi- 

 flora, concinna, exsurgens, vestita, cerinthoides, ventricosa, baccans, ~Eweridna, 

 Sparrmanm, spuria, and melastoma, with some others which I do not now 

 remember. At the end of three years, when I left Cornwall, the plants had 

 arrived at a fine state of maturity, and were far superior to any I had ever 

 before, or have since, seen. (Gard. Mag., vol. ix. p. 585.) No ligneous flow- 

 ering shrubs, whether hardy or half-hardy, are better deserving of culture 

 than the heaths ; for, as we have before observed (Gard. Mag., vol. i. p. 366.), 

 " of what other genus can it be said, that every species, without exception, is 

 beautiful throughout the year, and at every period of its growth ? in flower or 

 out of flower, and of every size and age ? perpetually green, perpetually in 

 flower; and these flowers of various colours and sizes, and of many shapes ?" 

 " The two splendid natural orders Ericeae and Epacrideae" [Ericeae normales 

 D. Don, and Epacridaceae LindL], Mr. Marnock observes, " perhaps contain 

 a greater number of really beautiful plants, than are to be found in all the 

 other orders put together." 



Genus IV. 



ANDRO'MED^ L. The Andromeda. Lin. Syst. Decandria Monogynia. 



Identification. D. Don in Edinb. New Phil. Joum., 17. p. 157. ; Don's Mill., 3. p. 828. 



Synonyme. Polifblia Buxbaum Cent., 5. p. 5. t. 55. f. 1. ; Andr6med« sp., L. 



Derivation. Andromeda was the name of the daughter of Cephalus, king of Ethiopia. She was tied 

 naked to a rock, and exposed to be devoured by a sea-monster to appease the wrath of Neptune ; 

 but was delivered by Perseus, who afterwards married her, and they had many children. The 

 following reasons for the application, by Linnajus, of the name of Andromeda to this genus of plants 

 are extracted from Sir J. E. Smith's translation of Linnasus's Lachesis Lapponica : — " Andr6meda 

 polifolia was now (June 12.) in its highest beauty, decorating the marshy grounds in a most agree- 

 able manner. The flowers are quite blood-red before they expand; but,when full grown, the corolla 

 is of a flesh-colour. Scarcely any painter's art can so happily imitate the beauty of a fine female 

 complexion ; still less could any artificial colour upon the face itself bear a comparison with this 

 lovely blossom. As I contemplated it, I could not help thinking of Andromeda, as described by 

 the poets ; and the more I meditated upon their descriptions, the more applicable they seemed to 

 the little plant, before me ; so that, if these writers had it in view, they could scarcely have con- 

 trived a more apposite fable. Andromeda is represented by them as a virgin of most exquisite and 

 unrivalled charms ; but these charms remain in perfection only so long as she retains her virgin 

 purity, which is also applicable to the plant now preparing to celebrate its nuptials. This plant is 

 always fixed on some little turfy hillock in the midst of the swamps, as Andromeda herself was 

 chained to a rock in the sea, which bathed her feet, as the fresh water does the roots of this plant. 

 Dragons and venomous serpents surrounded her, as toads and other reptiles frequent the abode of 

 her vegetable resembler, and, when they pair in the spring, throw mud and water over its leaves 

 and branches. As the distressed virgin cast down her blushing face through excessive affliction, 

 so does this rosy-coloured flower hang its head, growing paler and paler till it withers away. Hence, 

 as this plant forms a new genus, I have chosen for it the name of Andromeda." {Tour in Lapland, 

 8fc, vol. i. p. 188.) Linnaeus has drawn this fanciful analogy still farther in his Flora Lapponica. 

 " At length," says he, " comes Perseus, in the shape of summer, dries up the surrounding water, 

 and destroys the monsters, rendering the damsel a fruitful mother, who then carries her head 

 (the capsule) erect." These extracts are curious, not only as showing the motives which induced 

 Linnaeus to bestow this apparently inapplicable name on the plant, but as showing that the severe 

 studies, and earnest search after truth, of the great naturalist, had not destroyed the vividness of 

 his fancv, or the powers of his imagination. 



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