ERICA penicillata.
Reading edition
CHARACTER SPECIFICUS.
Erica antheris muticis, exsertis, penicillatis; corolla conica, purpurea, laciniis luteis, minutis, erectis; floribus spicatis, solitariis, pendulis; foliolis calycinis dorso canaliculatis, basi, auriculatis, coloratis; bracteis minutis, remotis; foliis ternis, fasciculatis, linearibus, glabris.
DESCRIPTIO.
Caulis erectus, fruticosus; rami subsimplices, longi; ramuli brevissimi conserti.
Folia terna, linearia, glabra, acuta, patentia, fasciculata; petiolis brevissimis, adpressis.
Flores solitarii, penduli, medio ramorum spicati; pedunculi colorati, longi, bracteis tribus, minutis, remotis, instructi.
Calyx. Perianthium tetraphyllum; foliolis, dorso canaliculatis, auriculatis, coloratis, acutis, adpressis.
Corolla conica, purpurea; laciniis, minutis, erectis, luteo-virentibus.
Stamina. Filamenta octo, plana. Antheræ muticæ, penicillatæ, exsertæ.
Pistillum. Germen conicum, striatum. Stylus filiformis, exsertus, staminibus longior. Stigma subpeltatum.
Habitat ad Caput Bonæ Spei.
Floret a Maio, in Augustum.
REFERENTIA.
1. Flos. 2. Calyx, auctus. 3. Stamina et Pistillum. 4. Stamina a Pistillo diducta anthera una lente aucta. 5. Pistillum, Stigma auctum. 6. Germen, auctum.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
Heath with beardless tips, without the blossom and formed like a pencil; blossom conical, purple, segments yellow, small, and upright; flowers grow in spikes, solitary, hanging down; the leaflets of the cup are channelled at the back, eared at the base and coloured; floral leaves very small, distant; leaves grow by threes, bundled, linear, and smooth.
DESCRIPTION.
Stem upright, shrubby; branches nearly simple, long; small branches close together.
Leaves grow by threes, linear, smooth, pointed, spreading, and bundled; with very short footstalks pressed to the stem.
Flowers grow solitary, hanging down making a spike from the middle of the branches; footstalks coloured, long, having the small floral leaves on their lower part.
Empalement. Cup four-leaved; leaflets channelled at the back, eared, coloured, pointed and pressed to the blossom.
Blossom conical and purple; segments small, upright, greenish-yellow.
Chives. Eight chives, flat. Tips beardless, pencil-like and without the blossom.
Pointal. Seed-bud conical, streaked. Shaft thread-shaped, without the blossom, longer than the chives. Summit nearly shield-shaped.
Native of the Cape of Good Hope.
Flowers from May, till August.
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, the Summit magnified. 6. The Seed-bud, magnified.
