ERICA Solandra.
Reading edition
CHARACTER SPECIFICUS.
Erica, antheris cristatis subinclusis, floribus capitatis cernuis subcampanulatis, foliis quaternis linearibus, ramulisque hispidis.
DESCRIPTIO.
Caulis suffrutescens, semipedalis, flexuosus, valde ramosus, ramulis filiformibus, patentibus, hispidis, itidemque flexuosis.
Folia quaterna, brevia, linearia, obtusa, valde hispida; seniora patentia, vel recurva.
Flores capitatim aggregati, terminales, parvuli.
Calyx tetraphyllus, foliolis erectis, subulatis, hispidis, corollâ brevioribus.
Corolla parva, nuda, obsolete campanulata, incarnata, laciniis subovatis, patulis.
Stamina octo capillaria, antheris cristatis, inclusis.
Pistillum. Germen tiaræforme. Stylus filiformis, subinclusus. Stigma tetragonum.
Habitat ad Caput Bonæ Spei.
Floret a mense Martii ad Maium, iterumque ab Augusto in Septembrem.
REFERENTIA.
1. Folium lente auctum. 2. Pagina inferior folii lente aucta. 3. Calyx lente auctus. 4. Calyx cum Corollâ. 5. Corolla, calyce diducto. 6. Stamina et Pistillum. 7. Eadem lente aucta. 8. Germen lente auctum.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
Heath, with crested tips just within the blossom, flowers headed nodding and bell-shaped, branches and leaves hispid, the latter in fours and linear.
DESCRIPTION.
Stem shrubbyish, half a foot high, flexuose, very much branched, with the branches thread-shaped, spreading, hispid, and likewise flexuose.
Leaves in fours, short, linear, obtuse, very hispid; the older ones spreading, or recurved.
Flowers terminal in crowned heads, and small.
Empalement four-leaved, with the leaflets erect, awl-shaped, hispid, and shorter than the blossom.
Blossom small, naked, obscurely bell-shaped, flesh-coloured, with the segments rather egg-shaped and patulous.
Chives eight hair-like threads, with the tips crested and within the blossom.
Pointal. Germen turban-shaped. Shaft thread-shaped, just within the blossom. Summit four-cornered.
Native of the Cape of Good Hope.
Flowers from the month of March till May, and again from August to September.
REFERENCE.
1. A Leaf magnified. 2. The under side of a Leaf magnified, 3. The Empalement magnified. 4. The Empalement and Blossom. 5. A Blossom divested of the empalement. 6. The Chives and Pointal. 7. The same magnified. 8. The Seed-bud magnified.
