289 : THE HEATH FAMILY. 
On mountain moors, in northern and Arctic wage Asia, and 
America, and in the high alpine chains of central Europe. In Britain 
only in the Highland mountains from Ben Lomond northwards. l. 
spring. 
VI. MENZIESIA. MENZIESIA. 
Heath-like, low shrubs, with scattered leaves, and blue or pink 
flowers, in terminal racemes. Sepals 4 or 5. Corolla deciduous, ovoid, 
with 4 or 5 short lobes. Stamens 8 or 10. Capsule free, with 4 or 5 
cells, opening in as many valves by the splitting of the partitions. 
A small northern and west European genus, artificially distinguished — 
from Andromeda by the manner in which the capsule opens, from Lrica 
by the deciduous corolla, from Loiseleuria by the number of stamens. 
It has been divided into almost as many genera as there are 
species. 
Flowers pink, with 4 lubes. Leaves white underneath .. ; - 1. M. polwfolia. 
Flowers blue, with 5 lobes. Leaves green on both sides . ‘ . 2. MM. coerulea. 
1. M. polifolia, Sm. (fig. 635). St. Dabeoc’s Heath.—A low shrub, 
rather straggling at the base, with ascending flowering branches, 
clothed with short, rather viscid hairs. Leaves small, the lower ones 
ovate, the upper ones narrow, all green above, and very white under- 
neath, Flowers very elegant, nearly 6 lines long, pink, or sometimes 
white, drooping from short pedicels, in a loose terminal raceme. Corolla 
with 4 very short, spreading lobes. Stamens 8. Capsule 4-celled. 
Dabeocia po!ifolia, Don. 
A strictly west European plant; common on the heathy wastes of 
the Asturias and south-western France, and extending up to Connemara 
in Ireland, but unknown in Great Britain. Fl. swmmer. 
2. M. ceerulea, Sm. (fig. 636). Blue M.—A small, much branched 
shrub. Leaves evergreen, crowded, linear, green on both sides, and 
bordered with minute glandular teeth, scarcely visible without a mag- 
nifying-glass. Flowers of a purplish blue, on long pedicels, clustered 
3 or 4 together, in very short terminal racemes or umbels. Corolla 
4 or 5 lines long, with 5 very short lobes. Stamens 10. . Capsule 5- 
celled. Phyllodoce taxifolia, Salisb. 
On mountain-heaths, in northern and Arctic Europe, Asia, anatineren: 
In Britain only on the mountain, called the Sow of Athol, in Perthshire, 
where it is exceedingly rare. Fl. summer. 
VII. ERICA. HEATH. 
Much-branched shrubs, usually low, but in some species attaining 8 
or 10 feet, with small, entire leaves, usually in whorls of 3 or 4, but 
sometimes opposite or scattered, and almost always rolled back on 
their edges. Flowers either axillary or in short terminal racemes or 
clusters, mostly drooping. Sepals 4, shorter than the corolla, Corolla 
ovoid, globular, or campanulate (in some exotic species tubular), more 
or less 4-toothed or lobed, and persisting round the capsule till its 
maturity. Stamens 8. Capsule free, with 4 cells, opening down the 
back of the cells, each cell with several seeds. 
