LEAVES grow mostly by fours, oblong, sawed, clothed with long hairs, smooth on the upper, and furrowed on the under part, having very short leaf-stems pressed to the branches. FLOWERS are numerous, in single whorls, near the summit of the branches, bending downward, and spreading, the foot-stalks hairy, with three small leaves fixed on their under part. EMPALEMENT. Cup four-leaved, which are lance-shaped, hairy, pressed to the blossom, and rolled back at the point. BLOSSOM nearly cylindrical, shining, clammy, and most beautifully coloured with red, yellow, and green, narrow at the mouth, which is divided into four segments. CHIVES. Eight hair-like threads, the length of the blossom, fixed into the receptacle. Tips beardless. POINTAL. Seed-vessel club-shaped, and furrowed. Shaft thread-shaped, rather without the blossom. Summit four-cornered. Native of the Cape of Good Hope. Flowers from August till December. REFERENCE. 1. The Empalement and Blossom. 2. The Empalement magnified. 3. The Chives and Pointal. 4. The Chives detached from the Pointal; one tip magnified. 5. The Shaft and its Summit magnified. [Illustration] ERICA melastoma. CHARACTER SPECIFICUS. ERICA, antheræ muticæ, exsertæ, attenuata in filamenta plana; corollis sessilibus, solitariis, luteis, terminalibus; oris laciniis nigris; calyx duplicatus, heptaphyllus, imbricatus; foliis subulatis, quaternis. DESCRIPTIO. CAULIS laxus, erectus, bipedalis; rami pauci, simplices; ramuli sparsi, brevissimi, frequentissimi, foliosi. FOLIA quaterna, subulata, apice, recurvata, sub-scabrida, rigida; petiolis brevissimis, adpressis. FLORES sessiles in apicibus ramulorum, solitarii, dependenti; pedunculi brevissimi. CALYX. Perianthium duplex; _interius_ tetraphyllum, foliolis concavis, ovatis, glabris, imbricatis, integris, luteis; _exterius_ triphyllum, priori brevioribus, consimilibus. COROLLA conica, lutea, parum curvata, basi quadrifariam sulcata, apice attenuata; laciniis erectis, obtusis, longissimis, adpressis, nigris. STAMINA. Filamenta octo, plana, linearia. Antheræ muticæ, lineares, exsertæ, longitudine corollæ, attenuata in filamenta. PISTILLUM. Germen ovatum, glabrum, integrum. Stylus exsertus, filiformis, staminibus paulo longior. Stigma marginatum, virescens. Habitat ad Caput Bonæ Spei. Floret a Mensi Februarii, in Julium. REFERENTIA. 1. Calyx. 2. Corolla, et Stamina. 3. Stamina, et Pistillum. 4. Stamina a Pistillo diducta. 5. Stamen unum, lente auctum. 6. Pistillum, lente auctum. SPECIFIC CHARACTER. HEATH, with beardless tips, without the blossom, tapering into the threads which are flat; blossoms sitting close to the branches singly, are yellow, and terminate them; the segments of the mouth are black; the cup is doubled, of seven leaves and tiled; leaves awl-shaped, growing by fours. DESCRIPTION.