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MENZIESIA caerulea.
Scottish Menziesia.
Cjto
OCTANDRIA Monogynia.
Gen. Char. Calyx of one leaf. Cor. of one petal.
Stamens inserted into the receptacle. Caps, superior,
of four or five cells; the partitions from
their inflexed margins.
Spec. Char. Leaves scattered, numerous, linear, obtuse,
with cartilaginous teeth. Flower-stalks
terminal, aggregate, simple. Flowers five-cleft,
decandrous.
Syn. Menziesia caerulea. Swartz Tr. o f Linn. Soc.
v. 10. 3 7 7 - v* 30. f . A.
Andromeda caerulea. Linn. Sp. PI. 563. FI. Lapp,
ed. 2. 133. t. 1 . ƒ. 5. Lapland Tour, v . l . 272.
FI. Dan. t. 57-
Erica Caerulea. Willd. Sp. PI. v. 2. 3 9 3 .
Phyllodoce taxifolia. Salisb. Par. t. 3 6 .
E have more th a n usual satisfaction in announcing this as a
British p la n t, on account of its ra rity an d be auty, and of the
opportunity it affords of adding to our Flora a new genus, dedic
a ted long ago, by th e writer of th is, to one of th e worthiest men
th a t th e native country of th e p lan t ever produced. T h e original
Menziesia, Sm. PI. Ic. t. 56, was g a the red by Mr. A. Men-
zies on th e west coast of N o rth America. Our Erica Daveoci,
t. 3 5 , has been added to th e genus by Jussieu an d Swartz. An
account of more exotic species may be seen in T r . o f L . Soc.
above c ited. .
T h e pre sent species has been discovered a t Aviemore in
Stra th sp ey , an d in th e western isles of S hiant. We have received
native specimens from Mr. G. Do n and M r. P . Neill, and
have seen others in gardens about London, though rarely in a
condition to blossom. I t grows on dry h e athy moors, flowering
in Ju n e an d July.
T h e h a b it is n o t unlike Empelrum, t. 5 2 6 . Leaves rather
shining a b o v e ; finely toothed a t th e e d g e ; rib downy beneath.
Flowerstalks long, simple, nearly terminal, red, glandular and
downy. Flowers solitary, drooping. Calyx red and glandular, in
five deep a cute segments, th e divisions of th a t p a rt being differe
n t in different species. Corolla ovate, contra cted a t th e mouth,
o f a blueish or livid red, well answering to th e classical idea of
cceruleus, though Pallas changed th e specific name to taxifolia,
which seems to us less appropria te .