4 
ERICA TRICOLOR; var. SUPERBA. 
Messrs. E/ollison, of Tooting, who have long been famous in the culture of 
heaths, and who, we are happy to perceive, are pursuing every necessary means for 
maintaining this honourable distinction, raised this plant, among many others, 
from seed sown about five years since. The seed is supposed to have been pro- 
cured from E. tricolor^ but as a mixed assortment was sown at the same time, 
this cannot be correctly ascertained. It flowered for the first time in 1836 ; and 
several specimens have since developed their blossoms most profusely. From the 
original species the difterence is obvious and striking ; but to the variety called 
major it would appear to possess an intimate resemblance. Messrs. Rollison, 
however, inform us (and from their long acquaintance with the genus, we regard 
their opinion with the utmost respect) that the tube of the flower of our present 
plant is much longer, of greater diameter, and more showy than that of the variety 
above mentioned. These circumstances warrant the application of the distinctive 
appellation herein given — a name to which few plants have greater and more 
decided claims. 
From a most mistaken opinion with regard to the difiiculty of preserving 
heaths, their culture appears to be greatly neglected in the present day ; or, at 
least, is rarely prosecuted with the spirit and energy which their surpassing 
beauty deserves. Every person possessing any pretensions to the qualifications of 
a gardener, imagines he can grow heaths, and their cultivation is sometimes 
referred to in gardening works as a model, with which all are supposed to be 
familiar, for the management of other similar genera ; but it is quite evident that 
few are sufficiently acquainted with the peculiar treatment they require, or failures 
would not be so lamentably frequent. Directions for their culture will be found 
in previous volumes of this Magazine, and we would particularly recommend 
Mr. M'Nab's excellent treatise on this subject, the value of which is best evinced 
by the unequalled splendour of the heaths under his care at Edinburgh. Our 
attention will shortly be occupied in an experimental inquiry into the best methods 
of cultivation ; and if any new system of management, or the confirmation of one 
not generally practised, shall be elicited, our readers will be furnished with the 
details in due course. 
We obtained our drawing from the nursery of Messrs. Eollison in July 1838, 
and these gentlemen possess a considerable stock of this splendid variety. 
The generic name is from ereico^ to break ; some suppose this to allude to the 
imaginary lithontriptic virtues of the species, while others, and with greater 
apparent reason, trace it to the very fragile nature of their branches. 
