ERICA sexfaria.
Reading edition
CHARACTER SPECIFICUS.
Erica, antheris basi bicornibus, longe exsertis atro-purpureis; stylo exserto; corollis ovatis calyce imbricato brevioribus; floribus ternis, sessilibus, terminalibus, albis; soliis ternis, trigonis, glabris, sexfariam imbricatis.
DESCRIPTIO.
Caulis erectus, subpedalis, glaber; rami pauci, erecti; ramuli simplices, subverticillati, rigidi.
Folia terna, trigona, obtusa, glabra, parum incurvata, patentiuscula, sexfariam posita, crassiuscula.
Flores in ramulorum apice terni, sessili, candidi.
Calyx. Perianthium duplex, exterium, triphyllum, foliolis subrotundis, undulatis, coloratis, subpatentibus; interium, tetraphyllum, soliolis carinatis, adpressis, concavis, subrotundis, longitudine corollæ.
Corolla ovata, glabra, membranacea, alba, calyce paulo breviora; limbi laciniis erectis.
Stamina. Filamenta octo plana. Antheræ basi bicornutæ, exsertæ, atropurpureæ.
Pistillum. Germen sub-globosum, sulcatum, glabrum. Stylus filiformis, staminibus longior. Stigma obsolete-tetragonum, atropurpureum.
Habitat ad Caput Bonæ Spei.
Floret a Martio in Julium.
REFERENTIA.
1. Flos, magnitudine naturali. 2. Calyx. 3. Calyx, lente auctus. 4. Corolla, Stamina et Pistillum. 5. Stamina, valdè aucta. 6. Pistillum, auctum.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
Heath with tips two-horned at the base, far without the blossom and dark purple; shaft without; blossoms egg-shaped, shorter than the tiled cup; flowers grow by threes, sitting close upon the ends of the branches and white; leaves grow by threes, smooth, three-sided, and tiled in six divisions.
DESCRIPTION.
Stem upright, near a foot high, smooth; branches few, upright; small branches simple, grow nearly in whorls and stiff.
Leaves grow by threes, three-sided, blunt, smooth, a little turned inwards, rather spreading, forming six angles, thickish.
Flowers grow in threes at the end of the small branches, sitting close, and of a shining white.
Empalement. Cup double, the outer three-leaved, leaflets roundish, waved, coloured, and rather spreading; the inner four-leaved, leaflets keeled, pressed to the blossom, concave, roundish, the length of the blossom.
Blossom egg-shaped, smooth, skinny, white, a little shorter than the cup; the segments of the border upright.
Chives. Eight flat threads. Tips two-horned at the base, without the blossom, and dark purple.
Pointal. Seed-bud roundish, furrowed, smooth. Shaft thread-shaped, longer than the chives. Summit bluntly four-cornered, dark purple.
Native of the Cape of Good Hope.
Flowers from March till July.
REFERENCE.
1. A Flower, natural size. 2. The Empalement. 3. The Empalement, magnified. 4. The Blossom, Chives, and Pointal. 5. The Chives, very much magnified. 6. The Pointal magnified.
