THE HEATHS AND BLUEBELLS. 
79 
CHAPTER X. 
The Heaths and Bluebells. 
H eath and bell-flowers, or bluebells, are very- 
close relations. They are two flowers that 
everybody^ is familiar with. In winter time 
many parts of the Australian bush are brilliant -with 
acres of the native heath. Of all colours, from white 
and pink, to the deepest shades of reds, crimsons, 
lakes, scarlets, almost to deep piarple in some locali- 
ties — the heath is the one winter flower that is much 
sought after. From low, straggling plants in the 
dry heath country, plants are not much over a foot 
in height, it grows to an irregular bush, very much 
higher in the mountain regions. 
It is probably in the Grampians that our native 
heath attains its finest beauty. There the greatest 
range of colours is found ; there the ‘ ‘ bells ’ ’ are 
extremely large ; and there the bushes are very tall. 
One bush in that portion of Wonderland called “ The 
Silent Street,” I measured to be over eight feet in 
height. It is often noticeable that the colour of heath 
is limited to districts. That is, in one locality the 
whole of the heath plants will bear white flowers, in 
another, pink, and in another, red. There appears to 
be no reason for this, for it will be again found that 
all colours are growing intermingled in the same area. 
Very rarely “ double ” forms of this plant are found, 
that is, plants in which the corolla, or flower petals, 
are more numerous than usual. In one instance, I 
