ERICA mammosa.
DESCRIPTIO.
Antheræ aristatæ, inclusæ. Flores sub-terminales, conferti, verticillati, penduli, spicam longam formantes. Pedunculi longissimi. Corolla ventricoso-cylindracea, apice attenuata, ad basin constricta, profunde purpurea; laciniis minutis, erectis. Folia quaterna, linearia, erecta, patentia. Caulis fruticosus, erectus, sesquipedalis. Rami verticillati, erecti.
DESCRIPTION.
Tips bearded, within the blossom. Flowers nearly terminal, in crowded whorls, hanging down, and forming a long spike. Footstalks very long. Blossom of a swelled cylinder-shape, tapered at the end, and pinched in at the base, of a deep purple colour. The segments of the border are very small, and upright. Leaves by fours, linear, erect, and spreading. Stem shrubby, upright, a foot and a half high. The branches are whorled and upright.
Native of the Cape of Good Hope.
In bloom from July till November.