Volume 3 — ERICA oppositifolia.
Reading edition
CHARACTER SPECIFICUS.
Erica, antheris muticis, inclusis: floribus urceolatis, albis: foliis oppositis, adpressis.
DESCRIPTIO.
Caulis sesquipedalis, filiformis, gracilis: ramuli conferti, numerosi, flexuosi.
Folia opposita, alternata, brevia, obtusa, adpressa, supra concava, subtus sulcata, nitida: petiolis brevibus.
Flores numerosi, in ramulis terminales, plerumque bini: pedunculi brevissimi, bracteis duabus.
Calyx. Perianthium tetraphyllum: foliolis ovato-acuminatis, albis, glabris.
Corolla alba, urceolata, ore arctata: limbo quadrilobo patente.
Stamina. Filamenta octo capillaria receptaculo inserta. Antheræ muticæ, inclusæ, parvæ.
Pistillum. Germen tiaræforme, sulcatum, viride. Stylus filiformis. Stigma tetragonum.
Habitat ad Caput Bonæ Spei.
Floret a mense Augusti in Decembrem.
REFERENTIA.
1. Calyx. 2. Corolla. 3. Stamina a Pistillo diducta, antherâ unâ lente auctâ. 4. Germen et Pistillum, stigmate lente aucto. 5. Germen lente auctum.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
Heath, with beardless tips within the blossom: flowers pitcher-shaped and white: leaves opposite, and pressed to the stem.
DESCRIPTION.
Stem a foot and a half high, thread-shaped, and slender: the branches are crowded, numerous, and flexuose.
Leaves grow opposite and alternate, are short, blunt-ended, and pressed to the branches, concave on their upper surface, and furrowed beneath, shining, and with short footstalks.
Flowers are numerous, terminating the smaller branches mostly by twos: peduncles very short, with two floral leaves.
Empalement. Cup four-leaved: the leaflets are pointedly oval, white, and smooth.
Blossom white and pitcher-shaped, narrowed at the mouth, with a four-lobed spreading border.
Chives. Eight hair-like threads fixed into the receptacle. Tips beardless, within the blossom, and small.
Pointal. Seed-bud turban-shaped, furrowed, and green. Shaft thread-shaped. Summit four-cornered.
Native of the Cape of Good Hope.
Flowers from August till December.
REFERENCE.
1. The Empalement. 2. A Blossom. 3. The Chives detached from the Pointal, one tip magnified. 4. Seed-bud and Pointal, summit magnified. 5. Seed-bud magnified.
