ERICA Coventrya.
Reading edition
CHARACTER SPECIFICUS.
Erica antheris muticis, inclusis: foliis quaternis, confertis: floribus sessilibus, fasciculatis terminalibus: frutex pygmæus.
DESCRIPTIO.
Caulis humilis, fruticosus: ramuli numerosi adapice ramis conferti.
Folia plerumque, quarterna, linearia, supra plana subtus sulcata.
Flores sessiles, fascisculatis terminales: corollis ventricosus, rubris, lacinis cordatis, expansio, albis, subtus læte rubris.
Germen tiaræforme, sulcatum, ad basin nectariis meliferis instructum.
Habitat ad Caput Bonæ Spei.
Floret a mense Julii in Septembrem.
REFERENTIA.
1. Calyx. 2. Corolla. 3. Stamina et Pistullum. 4. Germen et Pistillum, stigmate lente aucto.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
Heath with beardless tips within the blossom: leaves by fours, crowded: flowers sessile, terminating the branches in bunches: a dwarf shrub.
DESCRIPTION.
Stem low, shrubby: smaller branches are numerous and crowded together at the end of the larger branches.
Leaves mostly grow by fours, linear, flat on their upper surface, and furrowed beneath.
Flowers sessile, in terminal bunches: blossom bellied and red, the segments of the border are heart-shaped, spreading, and white; of a bright red on the under side.
Seed-bud turban-shaped, furrowed, with honey bearing nectaries at the base.
Native of the Cape of Good Hope.
Flowers from July till September.
REFERENCE.
1. The Empalement. 2. A Blossom. 3. The Chives and Pointal. 4. Seed-bud and Pointal, summit magnified.
This Erica resembles the E. primuloides in its foliage, also in the shape and colour of the blossom, but differs greatly in the manner of its growth, as the flowers, in this plant, terminate the branches in complex umbells, more like the genus Daphne than Erica.
It is one of those fine seminal varieties raised from Cape seed at the Hammersmith Nursery, and received its specific title in honour of the Earl of Coventry.
