EMPALEMENT. Cup four-leaved, which are egg-shaped, blunt, upright, and half the length of the blossom. BLOSSOM globe-shaped, with a four-lobed border, each division forming a half-round, equal, and upright. CHIVES. Eight hair-like threads, shorter than the blossom, and fixed in the receptacle. Tips bearded, and within the blossom. POINTAL. Seed-vessel roundish. Shaft thicker than the threads, and upright. Summit four-cornered. Native of the Cape of Good Hope. In bloom from August till December. REFERENCE. 1. The Empalement with the Blossom. 2. The Empalement and Floral-leaves 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 Muscari. CHARACTER SPECIFICUS. ERICA, antheris muticis, inclusis; corollis oblongo-ovatis, obtuse tetragonis; foliis quaternis. DESCRIPTIO. CAULIS fruticosus, sesquipedalis, teres, basi simplicissimus, dein ramosus. FOLIA quaterna, linearia, acuta, erecto-patentia, glaberrima, nitida, dilute viridia, petiolis brevissimis ramis adpressis. FLORES luteoli, suaviter olentes, sæpius quaterni, terminales; pedunculis brevissimis. CALYX. Perianthium duplex; _interius_ tetraphyllum, foliolis erectis, ovatis, carinatis; _exterius_ triphyllum, priori incumbens. COROLLA oblongo-ovata, obtuse tetragona, summa parte arctata, limbo quadrilobo, laciniis æqualibus revolutis. STAMINA. Filamenta octo capillaria, stylo subæqualia, apice torto, receptaculo inserta. Antheræ muticæ, inclusæ, bifidæ, dorsales. PISTILLUM. Germen obovatum, fulcatum sulcis octo. Stylus linearis, erectus, corollas sub-æqualis. Stigma subtetragonum. Habitat ad Caput Bonæ Spei. Floret a Martio ad Julium. REFERENTIA. 1. Calyx, et Corolla. 2. Calyx lente auctus. 3. Stamina, et Pistillum. 4. Stamina a Pistillo diducta; anthera una lente aucta. 5. Stylus, et Stigma lente aucta. SPECIFIC CHARACTER. HEATH, with beardless tips within the blossom, which is oblong-egg-shaped, and bluntly four-edged; leaves growing by fours. DESCRIPTION. STEM shrubby, grows a foot and a half high, cylindrical, undivided at the base, afterwards branching. LEAVES growing by fours, linear, pointed, between upright and spreading, smooth and shining, of a light green, with short leaf-stems pressed to the branches. FLOWERS yellowish, sweet-scented, mostly four together, terminating the branches; having very short footstalks. EMPALEMENT. Cup double; the _inner_ one has four leaves, which are erect, ovate, and keel-shaped; the _outer_ has three leaves, and rests on the former. The BLOSSOM oblong-egg-shaped, bluntly four-edged, contracted at the mouth, which is terminated by a four-lobed border, whose segments are equal, and rolled back. CHIVES. Eight hair-like threads, nearly of a length with the pointal, crooked at their upper part, and fixed in the receptacle. Tips beardless, within the blossom, cleft, and fixed to the threads at their back.