ERICA comosa.
Reading edition
CHARACTER SPECIFICUS.
Erica antheris muticis, inclusis; corolla ventricosa, alba, parva, ore arctata, laciniis patentibus; foliolis calycis ciliatis; floribus terminalibus, congestis, comosis; foliis quaternis, linearibus, obtusis, glabris.
DESCRIPTIO.
Caulis fruticosus, subpedalis, ramosus; rami, virgati, penduli; ramuli brevi, filiformes, numerosi.
Folia quaterna, obtusa, patentia, parva, glabra.
Flores in ramulis terminales, quasi spicam comosam densam formantes; pedunculi brevissimi, bracteis adpressis.
Calyx. Perianthiam tetraphyllum, foliolis ovatis, acutis, ciliatis.
Corolla ventricosa, alba, basi inflata, apice arctata; oris laciniis acutis, patentibus.
Stamina. Filamenta octo, capillaria, minuta. Antheræ muticæ, inclusæ.
Pistillum. Germen subrotundum, octo-sulcatum. Stylus filiformis, inclusus. Stigma tetragonum.
Habitat ad Caput Bonæ Spei.
Floret a Junio in Septembrem.
REFERENTIA.
1. Flos. 2. Calyx, lente auctus. 3. Stamina et Pistillum. 4. Stamina a Pistillo diducta, anthera una lente aucta. 5. Pistillum, stigma auctum. 6. Germen, lente auctum.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
Heath with beardless tips within the blossom, which is bellied, white, small and narrowed at the mouth, segments spreading; leaflets of the cup fringed; flowers terminal, crowded together in tufts; leaves grow by fours, linear, blunt, and smooth.
DESCRIPTION.
Stem shrubby, almost a foot high, branching; branches grow twiggy and hang down; small branches short, thread-shaped, numerous.
Leaves grow by fours, blunt, spreading, small and smooth.
Flowers terminate the small branches, forming as it were a thick, tufted spike; foot-stalks very short, floral leaves pressed to the cup.
Empalment. Cup four-leaved, leaflets egg-shaped, pointed, fringed.
Blossom bellied, white, swelled at the base, narrowed at the mouth; segments of the mouth sharp-pointed, spreading.
Chives. Eight hair-like threads, small. Tips beardless, within the blossom.
Pointal. Seed-bud roundish, eight furrowed. Shaft thread-shaped, within the blossom. Summit four-cornered.
Native of the Cape of Good Hope.
Flowers from June till September.
REFERENCE.
1. A Flower. 2. The Cup, magnified. 3. The Chives and Pointal. 4. The Chives detached from the Pointal, one tip magnified. 5. The Pointal, summit magnified. 6. The Seed-bud, magnified.
