. q 
: 
284 ‘THE HEATH FAMILY. [ Erica. 
| | , 
Sepals 4, shorter than the corolla. Corolla ovoid, globular, or campanulate 
(in some exotic species tubular), more or less 4-toothed or lobed, and per- 
sisting 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. 
A genus of about 400 genuine species, besides the innumerable hybrids 
and varieties raised in our ;gardens. Its geographical range is eminently 
Atlantic. The greater number of species come from south-western Africa, 
where they extend but very little way to the ‘eastward. In Europe also 
Heaths are strictly western, with the exception of two or three species 
extending a considerable way eastward along the sandy wastes of northern 
Europe, or round the Mediterranean to the frontiers of Asia. The genus is 
otherwise unknown in Asia, America, or Australia. 
Anthers included within the corolla. 
Corolla nearly 4 inch long, oblique at the mouth. Anthers 
without awns og OL Oe see ee ve 
Corolla about 4+ inch long, straight at the mouth. Anthers 
with two aWnS, or little appendages at the insertion of 
the filament, 
Leaves three ina whorl. Flowers numerous, in oblong or 
elongatedracemes . 2 j.'s)6  » |. oil 6 Le Bieimeren, 
Leaves 4in a whorl. Flowers few, in terminal clusters or 
umbels . . 2 BF. Tetralix. 
Anthers protruded from. the corolla, without awns or ap- 
pendages. 
Corolla campanulate or nearly globular. Sepals short. An- 
thers short, with slender filaments : : : ; . 5. BE. vagans. 
Corolla narrow-ovoid. Sepals linear. Anthers oblong, with 
flattened filaments *. s . - - F - ° . 4 EF. carnea. 
1, &. cinerea. Linn. (fig. 635). Scotch Heath, Scotch Heather.—A 
small bush. Leaves linear, finer and more pointed than in any of our other 
Heaths, and usually 4 in a whorl, with clusters of small leaves in their 
axils. Flowers numerous, of a reddish purple, in very showy, dense terminal 
racemes. Sepals small; and narrow. Corolla ovoid, about 3 lines long, 
straight at the mouth, with 4 very small lobes or teeth. Stamens enclosed 
in the corolla, with small toothed appendages at the insertion of the anther 
on the filament. | 
Common in western Europe, from southern Spain to Norway. Ranges 
over nearly the whole of Britain, covering immense tracts of country on 
the Scotch, Irish, Welsh, and some of the western English moors. £1, 
summer and autumn. 
2. BE. Tetralix, Linn. (fig. 636). Cross-leaved Heath.—Generally | 
a lower plant than ZH. cinerea, bushy at the base, with rather short, 
erect, flowering branches; the leaves in fours, shorter and less pointed 
than in that species, and ciliate with short stiff hairs, besidesa short whitish — 
down, which often clothes the branches and upper leaves. Flowers about 
the size of those of #. cinerea, but more pink in colour, and forming little 
terminal clusters or close umbels. Appendages to the anthers entire, awn- 
like, and often nearly as long as the anthers themselves. 
A strictly western species in southern Europe, but in northern Europe 
extends over Sweden and northern Germany to Courland and Livonia, but 
never so gregarious as H. cinerea. Ranges all over Britain, and very com- 
mon in the west. Fl. summer, rather late. A very marked variety, with — 
shorter and broader leaves of a darker green, from Connemara, in Ireland, — 
and also from the Asturias, has been distinguished under the name of 
