LEAVES grow by threes, blunt-ended, rather downy, channelled underneath, having very short foot-stalks pressed to the branches. FLOWERS grow by twos and threes at the end of the smaller branches, hanging down, forming a beautiful spike near the middle of the larger branches. The foot-stalks are short, without floral leaves. EMPALEMENT. Cup double, and coloured; the outer three-leaved, the leaves of a broad oval-shape, the ends greenish: the inner is four-leaved, broader and larger than the former. BLOSSOM cone-shaped, near an inch long, smooth, deep red; the segments of the mouth upright. CHIVES. Eight flat threads, much longer than the blossom, fixed into the receptacle; the tips beardless, without the blossom, and tapering into the filaments. POINTAL. Seed-vessel egg-shaped, and slightly furrowed. Shaft thread-shaped. 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 Summit magnified. [Illustration] ERICA mucosa. CHARACTER SPECIFICUS. ERICA, antheris aristatis, inclusis; corollis globosis, mucosis, fasciculatis, cernuo-patentibus, terminalibus; foliis quaternis. DESCRIPTIO. CAULIS fruticosus, tripedalis, ad basin fere ramosus, ramis longis, virgatis, flexuosis. FOLIA quaterna, subtriangularia, linearia, apice recurvata, obtusa, glaberrima, subtus sulcata; brevissimis petiolis instructa. FLORES plures, terminales, fasciculati, cernuo-patentes, mucosi, purpurei fulgenti; pedunculis longis, purpureis, 2 seu 3 bracteis, instructis. CALYX. Perianthium tetraphyllum, foliolis ovatis, obtusis, erectis, corolla dimidio brevioribus. COROLLA globosa, limbo quadrilobo, laciniis semiorbiculatis, æqualibus, erectis. STAMINA. Filamenta octo capillaria, corolla breviora, receptaculo inserta. Antheræ aristatæ, inclusæ. PISTILLUM. Germen subrotundum. Stylus filamentis crassior, erectus. Stigma tetragonum. Habitat ad Caput Bonæ Spei. Floret a mensi Augusti ad Decembrem. REFERENTIA. 1. Calyx et Corolla. 2. Calyx et Bractea lente aucta. 3. Stamina et Pistillum. 4. Stamina a Pistillo diducta, anthera una lente aucta. 5. Stylus et Stigma lente aucta. SPECIFIC CHARACTER. HEATH, with bearded tips, within the blossoms; which are globe-shaped, clammy, and in bunches, bending downward, spreading, and terminating the branches; leaves growing by fours. DESCRIPTION. STEM shrubby, grows three feet high, branched nearly to the bottom, with long, slender, waving branches. LEAVES growing by fours, nearly triangular, linear, bent back at the point, blunt, smooth, and furrowed underneath; leaf-stems very short. FLOWERS several, terminating the branches in bunches, bending downward and spreading, of a brilliant purple, and clammy; with very long foot-stalks, which are furnished with 2 or 3 floral-leaves.