ERICA obliqua.
Reading edition
CHARACTER SPECIFICUS.
Erica, antheris basi bicornibus, inclusis; stylo sub-exserto; corollis ovatis, laciniis ovalibus, maximis, erectis; floribus umbellatis, terminalibus, pedunculis pollicaribus; foliis oblique sparsis, truncatis.
DESCRIPTIO.
Caulis fruticosus, pedalis; rami simplices, longi, filiformes.
Folia sparsa, sæpe vero quaterna, linearia, arcuata, margine glanduloso-denticulata, glabra, truncata, petiolis tenuissimis.
Flores numerosi, sub apice ramorum umbellati; pedunculi flore triplo longiores, colorati, viscidi, bracteis tribus linearibus instructi.
Calyx. Perianthium tetraphyllum; foliolis minutis, linearibus, viscosis, adpressis.
Corolla sub-globosa, purpurea, magnitudine pisi; laciniis limbi maximis, erectis.
Stamina. Filamenta octo, plana, linearia, apice incurvata; antheræ ad basin bicornutæ, inclusæ.
Pistillum. Germen tiarae-forme, sulcatum; glandulæ octo ad basin germinis; stylus cylindricus, sub-exsertus; stigma tetragonum.
Habitat ad Caput Bonæ Spei.
Floret a mense Augusti in Decembrem.
REFERENTIA.
1. Folium lente auctum.
2. Flos.
3. Calyx lente auctus.
4. Stamina et Pistillum.
5. Stamina a Pistillo diducta, lente aucta.
6. Pistillum lente auctum.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
Heath, with tips two-horned at the base, and within the blossom; the shaft just without; blossoms egg-shaped, the segments of the border oval, very large, and upright; flowers grow in bunches, and terminate the branches; the footstalks an inch long; the leaves grow scattered obliquely, appearing cut off at the ends.
DESCRIPTION.
Stem shrubby, grows a foot high; the branches simple, long, and thread-shaped.
Leaves grow scattered, sometimes by fours, linear, arched, appearing toothed by small glands at the edge, smooth, seeming cut off at the ends, and with very slender footstalks.
Flowers numerous, growing in umbels at the end of the branches; the footstalks thrice the length of the flower, coloured, clammy, and having three linear floral leaves.
Empalement. Cup four-leaved; the leaflets very small, linear, clammy, and pressed to the blossom.
Blossom almost globular, purple, the size of a pea; the segments of the border very large and upright.
Chives. Eight flat threads, linear, bent inward at the points; tips two-horned at the base, and within the blossom.
Pointal. Seed-bud turban-shaped and furrowed; eight glands at the base of the seed-bud; shaft cylindrical, and just without the blossom; summit four-cornered.
Native of the Cape of Good Hope.
Flowers from August till December.
REFERENCE.
1. A Leaf magnified.
2. A Flower.
3. The Empalement magnified.
4. The Chives and Pointal.
5. The Chives detached from the Pointal, magnified.
6. The Pointal magnified.
