244 
ERICA BANKS! AN A. 
has also a very excellent collection, and Messrs. Young, Epsom, are acquiring some 
extremely healthy and valuable specimens. At Exeter, moreover, Messrs. Lucombe, 
Pince, and Co., have an assemblage of Heaths, which has very few rivals in England. 
Other firms might be mentioned whose zeal and prosperity in the cultivation of 
these plants are deserving of the highest commendation ; we only specify the 
preceding as either having gained, or rapidly advancing to distinction in the pursuit. 
Among the many worthy species that should help to compose a good collec- 
tion, E. Banksiana possesses qualities which decidedly entitle it to esteem. Its 
extremely elegant and interesting flowers, depending so pleasingly from the points 
of the smaller shoots, present in themselves considerable attractions, both on account 
of their singular form and delicate tints. Besides having a double calyx, the 
stamens are projected far beyond the corolla on a curious cylindrical receptacle ; thus 
giving the appearance of a second limb to the corolla, with numerous narrow seg- 
ments, rather than an elongation of its tube simply to support the stamens. It is 
not, however, alone while the blossoms are unfolded that this charming Heath has 
claims to regard. Its exceedingly dwarf bushy habit, the shortness, denseness, and 
partial pendency of its branches, and the closeness as well as very intense verdure of 
its foliage, — which is so strong and rigid as to resemble that of some species of 
Pinus, — render it, in winter, one of the most ornamental of the spring-flowering 
Heaths. Its blooming season is likewise frequently prolonged from February 
to J uly ; and a few scattered flowers are occasionally borne in the autumn. 
Most of the species of Erica are natives of the Cape of Good Hope, of which 
our present subject is also a denizen, having been introduced to Britain towards the 
end of the eighteenth century. In those places where it is necessarily cultivated 
in a house to which a motley group of greenhouse plants are admitted, it should 
always be placed (in company with all its allies) on the front stage of the structure 
if it have only one slope, and on the outer stage, or that nearest the wall, if a span- 
roofed erection. This method is adopted very successfully at the Epsom nursery ; 
and is to be praised because a more perfect circulation of air, and a greater 
proximity to the glass, can be obtained in such a situation. 
Our coloured figure exhibits a flowering branch of the species of its natural 
size. The engraving beneath it delineates the whole plant, on a greatly reduced 
scale. There are several varieties, of which the plant depicted may possibly be 
one ; but we believe it to be exceedingly like the primary species. 
