The Garden Magazine, July, 1923 
329 
hood of San Francisco half a century ago we should not now have to deplore 
the loss of the Heaths of the Cape. In Bailey’s “Cyclopedia” thirteen Cape 
species of Erica are enumerated and a dozen others with several hybrids are men¬ 
tioned in small type. This emphasizes the poverty of our gardens. 
Of the few now grown, E. melanthera, with small rose-colored flowers each with 
prominent black anthers, is perhaps the most common. Others are E. ventricosa 
with flowers of varied colors, E. formosa and E. persoluta with white and 
E. hiemalis with pink and white flowers. The last-named is probably a form of 
E. perspicua. The yellow-flowered E. Cavendishiana and E. IVilmoreana with 
pink, tipped white, flowers are of hybrid origin. 
The first Cape Heaths introduced into cultivation were E. marifolia and E. 
concinna, seeds of which were received at Kew from Masson in 1773. The first- 
named grows a foot high and has relatively broad, short leaves in verticils and 
terminal clusters of small white urn-shaped flowers. It blossoms from April to 
July. The other grows 3 feet tall, has small leaves, tubular rose and white 
flowers in verticils on the shoots and is in blossom from October to December. 
The yellow E. lutea, still common on Table Mountain, the white flowered E. 
persoluta and the bright scarlet E. cerinthoides with several others were intro¬ 
duced by Masson in 1774. 
The distribution of the genus Erica is interesting. It is absent from America, 
Asia, and Australasia. Several species are found in Europe from Britain south, 
but more especially in the Mediterranean region, and these are known generally 
as Hardy Heaths. A few species occur on the higher mountains of Africa, both in 
the north and in the equatorial regions, but the real wealth and exuberance 
is reserved for South Africa where more than 500 species are known and nearly all 
from the Cape Province. 
Plants Whose Leaves Have Windows 
S UCCULENT plants are usually looked upon as the curiosities of the veg¬ 
etable world. The modification of leaves and stems, whereby they serve as 
reservoirs largely for the storage of water, and the peculiar external tissues which 
aid in this conservation give them a remarkable appearance. The two great regions 
of the world for succulents are Mexico with the adjacent southwestern United 
States and South Africa. Each has its own types, but superficially they look 
much alike. 
The Cacti and Agaves of America have Euphorbias and Aloes (with their rel¬ 
atives) as their South African analogues. The species of Aloe are legion. A 
majority of them are low plants of one or few unbranched stems, many form 
an assemblage of stems and may be termed bushes, a few like A. ciliaris are 
scandent and several are tall trees. Their leaves are brittle and easily broken 
and are filled with sap containing a bitter principle; they are usually armed 
along the margin and are often curiously mottled and barred. All have hand¬ 
some orange to scarlet flowers which are produced in great profusion and the 
South African Aloes in bloom are one of the floral sights of the world. The 
giants of the family are A. Bainesii and A. dichotoma which have branching 
stems and are often from 30 to 40 feet tall. A good many species are in 
cultivation, and those who garden in the warm, dry parts of this country would 
be well advised to add increasingly these plants to their collections. Where 
ONE OF THE MANY TYPES OF 
HEATH 
A SOUTH AFRICAN “HONEY-POT” (Protea cynaroides) 
“The handsomest inflorescence in the world” says Mr. Wilson, “is that of Protea cynaroides 
seen on its native heath”; a delight to the Boers because of its “honey” (see page 327) 
“In elegance, beauty and wealth of blos¬ 
soms the Cape Heaths are not excelled 
by any group of shrubs the world over 
—their variety is seemingly infinite.” 
(Erica gracilis shown above) 
the climate is to their liking they 
require little or no attention. 
The succulent Euphorbias are also 
very numerous and may be any¬ 
thing from nests of knobby stems a 
few inches high to much-branched 
candelabriform trees 40 feet tall. Their 
inflorescences are insignificant and 
their stems contain a white juice 
which has strong irritant and vesi¬ 
catory, if not poisonous, properties. 
Many of them are armed with 
ferocious spines. On account of their 
repellant qualities they have been 
much planted by the natives of Africa 
as hedges to protect their kraals from 
surprise attacks by their enemies. 
A number of species doubtless as 
curiosities were long ago introduced 
by Arab traders into India and from 
there the Chinese carried them to 
