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Floral Illustrations of the Seasons / Consisting of the Most Beautiful, Hardy and Rare Herbaceous Plants, Cultivated in the Flower Garden cover

Floral Illustrations of the Seasons / Consisting of the Most Beautiful, Hardy and Rare Herbaceous Plants, Cultivated in the Flower Garden

Chapter 36: ERICA carnea.
By Margaret Roscoe
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About This Book

A series of hand-drawn and engraved botanical plates paired with succinct Latin classifications and practical cultivation notes, arranged to follow the seasons. Each entry describes plant form, varieties, propagation and soil or exposure preferences, and suggests garden uses for hardy herbaceous ornamentals. The preface frames the volume as an accessible guide intended to encourage aesthetic appreciation and botanical study, particularly among women, by combining accurate description with visual representation.

Plate 54. Erica carnea.
Drawn from Nature by M.R. Engraved by R. Havell Junr.

ERICA carnea.

Flesh colored, early Flowering Heath.

Class and Order.—Octandria Monogynia.

Syn. Erica carnea. Jacquin's Flo. Austr. Vol. 1. tab. 32.
Erica carnea. Loddige's Bot. Cab. p. 1452.
Erica herbacea. Curt. Bot. Mag. pl. 11.

Root fibrous—stem branching upon the ground, leaves small, linear, sessile—flowers pendulous, on very short peduncles—calyx four segments, linear acute—corolla campanulate, pale pink, margin four cleft—stamens eight fixed to the receptacle, anthers bifid, projecting, dark purple—style declining, longer than the stamens.

This pretty little plant would be acceptable to us at any season of the year, but is peculiarly so in the dreary one in which its beautiful pink blossoms appear, frequently peeping above the snow. The flowers are formed in the autumn, but do not come to maturity until the following December or January, when (if planted in a bog border with a south aspect) it will make a beautiful appearance for a length of time. It is a native of the Alps and mountainous parts of Germany, and was introduced into this country about the year 1763; the general method of increasing this plant is by cuttings or layers,—there are other species of hardy heaths which are well worth cultivating. The three last mentioned are natives of Britain.

E. Mediterranea. E. tetralia.
— ciliaris. — vagans.
— carnea var. — stricta.
— Australis.

Pl. 54.