ERICA Templea.
Reading edition
CHARACTER SPECIFICUS.
Erica, muticis inclusis: floribus terminalibus: cernuis, foliis lanceolatis, hirsutis: caulis fruticosa.
DESCRIPTIO.
Caulis fruticosus, pedalis, ramis et ramulis, simplicibus, flexuosis.
Folia sena, lanceolata, curvata, patentia, supra plana, subtus sulco exarata: marginibus hirsutis.
Flores in ultimis ramis terminales, in umbellis, cernuis; corolla sub cylindracea, ad basin inflata, subalbia, supra læte rubra et striatis, ore arcuata pilosa, laciniis revolutis.
Germen tiaræforme, sulcatum, pilosum, ad basin nectariis melliferis instructum.
Habitat ad Caput Bonæ Spei.
Floret a mense Septembri in Decembrem.
REFERENTIA.
1. Folium. 2. Idem infra lente aucta. 3. Stamen et pistillum, antherà unà lente auctâ. 4. Germen et pistillum stigmata lente aucta.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
Heath, with beardless tips, within the blossom: flowers terminal and nodding: leaves lance-shaped and hirsute: stem shrubby.
DESCRIPTION.
Stem shrubby, a foot high; the large and smaller branches simple and flexuose.
Leaves by sixes, lance shaped, curved and spreading, flat on their upper surface and deeply furrowed beneath: margins harshly haired.
Flowers terminate the ends of the branches in umbels, nodding: blossom nearly cylindrical, swelled at the base, whitish, of a bright red colour above, and striped: narrowed at the mouth, and hairy segments rolled back.
Seed-bud turban-shaped, furrowed, hairy, and furnished at the base with honey-bearing nectaries.
Native of the Cape of Good Hope.
Flowers from the month of September till December.
REFERENCE.
1. A Leaf. 2. The same shewn from beneath, magnified. 3. Chives and pointal, one tip magnified. 4. Seed-bud and pointal, summit magnified.
This Erica was first raised from seed at the Hammersmith Nursery, about the year 1820, and named by the late Mr. Lee after Lady Temple; it is a perfectly new and distinct species; the Erica’s cerinthoides and obbata are the only heaths to which it bears any resemblance. It is a handsome shrub low in stature, but easily distinguished from most of this fine tribe by its glaucous, hairy foliage.
