ERICA propendens.
Reading edition
CHARACTER SPECIFICUS.
Erica, antheris muticis inclusis, floribus subgeminatis pendulis campanulatis pubescentibus, foliis linearibus quaternis itidem pubescentibus.
DESCRIPTIO.
Caulis fruticosus, subpedalis, flexuosus, ramis flexuoso-patentibus, ramulis floriferis pendulis.
Folia quaterna, linearia, pubescentia, subtus sulcata, petiolis brevibus, adpressis; seniora reflexa.
Flores terminales in ramulis lateralibus, pendulis; plerumque binati; pedunculi colorati, bracteis tribus ad calycem instructi.
Calyx tetraphyllus, foliolis ovatis acuminatis, concavis, pubescentibus, coloratis, adpressis.
Corolla campanulata, rubro-purpurea, laciniis late ovatis, patentibus.
Stamina octo capillaria; antheræ muticæ, inclusæ.
Pistillum. Germen breve tiaræforme; stylus filiformis inclusus; stigma tetragonum.
Habitat ad Caput Bonæ Spei.
Floret a mense Julii in Octobrem.
REFERENTIA.
1. Pagina inferior folii, lente aucta. 2. Flos. 3. Calyx lente auctus. 4. Stamina, et Pistillum. 5. Eadem expansa. 6. Stamen lente auctum. 7. Pistillum, stigmate lente auctum. 8. Germen lente auctum.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
Heath, with beardless tips within the blossom, flowers chiefly twinned pendulous bell-shaped pubescent, and leaves linear in fours also pubescent.
DESCRIPTION.
Stem shrubby, near a foot high, flexuose, with flexuose, spreading branches, and with the little flower-bearing branches pendulous.
Leaves in fours, linear, pubescent, furrowed beneath, with short footstalks, pressed to the branches; the old leaves bent downwards.
Flowers terminal in small, lateral, pendulous, branches; chiefly in pairs; the peduncles coloured, and furnished with three floral leaves near the empalement.
Empalement of four leaves, with the little leaves egg-shaped, acuminated, concave, pubescent, coloured, and pressed to the blossom.
Blossom, bell-shaped, red-purple, with the segments broad egg-shaped, and spreading.
Chives eight hair-like threads, the tips beardless and within the blossom.
Pointal. Seed-bud short, turban-shaped; shaft thread-shaped within the blossom; summit four-cornered.
Native of the Cape of Good Hope.
Flowers from the month of July till October.
REFERENCE.
1. The under-side of a Leaf magnified. 2. A Flower. 3. The Empalement magnified. 4. The Chives, and Pointal. 5. The same expanded. 6. A Chive magnified. 7. The Pointal, with the summit magnified. 8. The Seed-bud magnified.
