1 6 WILD FLOWERS OF THE BRITISH ISLES 
(racemes). Calyx with 4 lobes entirely free from and inserted below the seedcase (inferior) ; 
corolla urn-shaped, bell-shaped, or tubular, with 4 teeth or lobes, remaining with the fruit 
(persistent), inserted below the seedcase (hypogynous) ; stamens 8, the anthers opening by 2 pores 
at the top, and often having 2 spurs at the base ; carpels 4 ; fruit a dry 4-celled, many-seeded 
capsule, opening by 4 valves down the middle of the cells (loculicidal). Shrubs, much branched 
and usually low-growing, with small entire leaves, almost always with their margins rolled back 
(revolute) so that they appear extremely narrow, usually in clusters of 3 or 4 in circles (whorls) 
round the stems. 
Anthers included in the corolla. 
(1) Fringed-leaved Heath. (Eri'ca cilHris.) — Flowers rose-red, in dense, i-sided, spike-like 
clusters ; anthers without spurs ; style protruding ; leaves 3-5 in whorls, edges rolled 
in (revolute). 
(2) Cross-leaved Heath. (Eri'ca Tet'ralix.) — Flowers rosy, in short, drooping, i-sided clusters 
(heads) ; anthers with long spurs ; leaves 4 in a whorl, edges much rolled in 
(revolute). 
(3) Mackay’s Heath. (Eri'ca Mackdyi.) — Like the last, differing in the shorter wider corolla 
and broader leaves with the margin less rolled in. 
(4) Fine-leaved Heath. (Eri'ca cinerea.) — Flowers purplish, in elongated terminal clusters ; 
anthers with short spurs ; style protruding ; leaves 3 in a whorl, flat, edges not 
rolled in. 
Anthers without spurs, protruding from the corolla ; style protruding. 
(5) Cornish Heath. (Eri'ca vegans.) — Flowers bell-shaped, small, pink, in leafy spike-like 
clusters ; leaves 4-5 in a whorl, edges slightly rolled in (revolute). 
(6) Mediterranean Heath. (Eri'ca mediterr£nea.) — Flowers small, narrowly urn-shaped, 
pink, in terminal clusters ; leaves 4 in a whorl, edges not rolled in. 
1. Fringed-leaved Heath. (Eri'ca cili&ris. Linn.)— As just described. This 
is a very beautiful species with long, one-sided, spike-like clusters of large rose-red flowers about 
\ inch long ; the sepals are small and fringed with hairs ; the anthers without awns and included 
in the urn-shaped corolla, from which the style protrudes. The stems are straggling, from 
9 inches to 1 foot high ; the leaves are egg-shaped, with rolled-in margins, fringed with gland- 
tipped hairs (ciliate), and are placed in circles (whorls) of 3-4 together up the stem. 
Very rare. On sandy heaths ; in Cornwall near Penryn, Truro, and St. Agnes; in Dorset, near 
Wareham ; and recorded (but now probably extinct) from the vicinity of Clifden, Co. Galway. 
2. Cross-leaved Heath. (Eri'ca Tet'ralix. Linn.) — This species is easily recognised 
by its short one-sided clusters (heads) of drooping rose-coloured or white flowers f inch long, 
which have their anthers with long spurs, included with the style in the inflated urn-shaped 
corolla ; by the downy capsules ; and by the narrow leaves, which have their margins strongly 
rolled in, and are placed cross-wise in whorls of 4 ; the leaves are fringed with hairs and are 
always downy above when young and on the midrib underneath ; the stems are wiry, 
9-18 inches high, the leaves being crowded together on the barren shoots, but more distant 
on the flowering stems. [Plate 5. 
Common. On heaths; generally distributed all over the British Isles. July — September. 
Perennial. 
