ERICA MURRAYANA. 
(Mr. Murray's Heath.) 
Class. 
OCTANDRIA. 
Order. 
MONOGYNIA. 
Natural Order. 
ERICACEiE. 
Generic Character.— Ca?|/J? four-sepalled, inferior. 
Corolla with four divisions. Stamens inserted in the 
receptacle. Anthers bifid. Capsules four-celled. 
Specific Character.— PZani with much of the habit 
of E. aristata ; and flowers intermediate between that 
species and E. vestita coccinea. 
The practice of hybridising Heaths has now been carried to a considerable 
extent by some cultivators, and our pages have contained figures of several 
excellent seedlings. But no one will assert that there is not an ample field for 
further improvement in this way, since the genus is so very large, and the species 
so varied. 
The plant before us is another worthy result of experiment in the intermixture 
of properties. It was reared from seeds by Mr. A. TurnbuU, of Bothwell Castle 
Gardens, near Hamilton, Scotland, and has been named by him after his friend 
Mr. Murray, of the Glasgow Botanic Garden. Mr. TurnbuU has very kindly 
sent us specimens, from which we have had our drawing made, and he favours us 
with the following history of the variety : — 
*' E. aristata minor being a dwarf compact grower, and E. vestita coccinea a 
rambling grower, my object in crossing them was, if possible, to get a variety 
with the dwarf habit of the former, and the brilliant flowers of the latter. With 
this view I impregnated E. aristata minor with the pollen of E. vestita coccinea, in 
the spring of 1837. The seeds ripened freely, and were sown in the autumn of 
the same year. A few of them vegetated the following spring (1838), and the 
remainder twelve months after. As I could not spare room for keeping them all, 
so soon as I could form some idea of their habits I destroyed all those that 
approximated most nearly to the male parent, reserving only six or eight of those 
that appeared most dwarf. Of these I bloomed four in the autumn and winter of 
1842, three of them being very nearly the same in every respect as the specimen 
sent, while the other one is very different, being contracted at the mouth of the 
