ERICA horizontalis.
Reading edition
CHARACTER SPECIFICUS.
Erica antheris muticis, exclusis; floribus terminalibus, quaternis; foliolis calycis spathulatis, margine serratis; laciniis corollæ hastatis, erectis, atro-purpureis; foliis quaternis, obtusis, horizontalibus.
DESCRIPTIO.
Caulis erectus, subpedalis, ramosus; rami horizontals, rigidi; ramuli pauci, rami similes.
Folia quaterna, obtusa, linearia, horizontalia, glabra; petiolis minutis, adpressis.
Flores in ultimis ramulorum umbellati, cernui, quaterni, sæpe terni; pedunculis brevibus, bracteis tribus, spathulatis, imbricatis.
Calyx. Perianthium tetraphyllum, foliolis spathulatis, concavis, viscosis, marginibus serratis, adpressis.
Corolla ovata, glabra, basi alba, apice purpurea; oris laciniis hastatis, erectis, atro-purpureis.
Stamina. Filamenta capillaria, longitudine tubi. Antheræ muticæ, exsertæ, lineariæ, longitudine filamentorum.
Pistillum. Germen subrotundum compressum, sulcatum. Stylus filiformis, exsertus. Stigma obsoletum.
Habitat ad Caput Bonæ Spei.
Floret a Julio, in Novembrem.
REFERENTIA.
1. Flos, magnitudine naturali. 2. Calyx, lente auctus. 3. Corolla, magnitudine naturali. 4. Idem, aucta. 5. Stamina, et Pistillum. 6. Stamina a Pistillo diducta, aucta. 7. Pistillum. 8. Idem, lente auctum.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
Heath with beardless tips, without the blossom; flowers terminate the branches by fours; the leaflets of the cup are spathula-shaped and sawed at the margin; segments of the blossom halbert-shaped, upright and dark-purple; leaves grow by fours, obtuse, and horizontal.
DESCRIPTION.
Stem upright, near a foot high, branching; branches grow horizontal and stiff; smaller branches few, like the larger ones.
Leaves grow by fours, obtuse, linear, horizontal, smooth; foot-stalks very small and pressed to the stem.
Flowers grow in umbels at the end of the smaller branches, nodding, and by fours, often by threes; foot-stalks very short, with three spathula-shaped, tiled floral leaves.
Empalement. Cup double, leaflets spathula-shaped, concave, clammy, sawed at the edges, and pressed to the blossom.
Blossom egg-shaped, smooth, white at the base, purple at the top; the segments of the mouth halbert-shaped, upright and of a deep purple.
Chives. Threads hair-like, the length of the tube. Tips beardless, without the blossom, linear, of the length of the threads.
Pointal. Seed-bud roundish, flattened, and furrowed. Shaft thread-shaped, without the blossom. Summit obsolete.
Native of the Cape of Good Hope.
Flowers from July, till November.
REFERENCE.
1. A Flower of the natural size. 2. The Empalement, magnified. 3. The Blossom, of the natural size, 4. The same, magnified. 5. The Chives, and Pointal. 6. The Chives detached from the Pointal; magnified. 7. The Pointal. 8. The same, magnified.
