EPACRIS MINIATA. 
(Vermilion Epaeris.) 
Class. Order. 
PENTANDRIA. MONOGYNIA. 
Natural Order. 
ERA.CRIDA.CEiE. 
Generic Character.— Calyx coloured, many brac- 
teate; bracteas of the same texture as the calyx. Co- 
rolla tubular, limb beardless. Stamens epipetalous. 
Anthers peltate above the middle. Hypogynous scales 
five. Capsules having the placentas adnate to the cen- 
tral column.— Don's Gardening and Botany. 
Specific Character. — Plant an erect, branching, 
evergreen shrub. Branches tomentose. Leaves sessile, 
cordate, mucronate, smooth. Flowers solitary, pedi- 
cellate, pendulous. Calyx lobes and bracteas aristate, 
sublanate at the margins. Corolla cylindrical, four 
times as long as the calyx, with an expanding limb. 
Among tiie many fine things which have been produced during the last season, 
there is perhaps none which appear likely to acquire a more extensive celebrity, 
than the present fine species of Epacris. It is unquestionably very superior to 
every other of the numerous members of this delightful genus of greenhouse plants 
which have hitherto been detected. The nearest approach to it which our collec- 
tions possess, are the E. grandijlora, and the several slightly differing varieties 
comprehended under the name of E. autumnale. But these fall far short of the 
brilliant hue of E. mhiiata. 
Dr. Lindley says, " It is very doubtful whether the plant can be regarded in 
any other light than a beautiful variety of Epacris grandijlora. We are unable, 
indeed, after a diligent comparison, to discover any distinction beyond the more 
bristly nature of the sepals and bracts, which are moreover rather more woolly at 
the edge. In E. grandijlora these parts are sharp-pointed, but in this they termi- 
nate in a slender bristle. This is too slender a difference on which to found a 
specific distinction ; but the fruit which we have not seen may be peculiar, and at 
any rate the point may remain open for further investigation." 
It is a robust free-growing kind, and branches liberally. It seems likely, 
moreover, that, by a little management, flowering plants may be had for the 
greater part, if not for the whole of the year. Messrs. Loddiges have had a 
succession of specimens in bloom since last May, with scarcely an interruption ; 
and a more charming plant can scarcely be imagined than one of these, arrayed 
with its white-tipped vermilion blossoms, extending in lines along the branches for 
a foot or eighteen inches. 
