Compilation
Erica penicillata

We admit this species with doubt. Its principal distinction from E. Plukeneti lies in the shorter and proportionately broader corolla, and there does appear to be a break between the shortest-flowered forms of E. Plukeneti, and the longest-flowered of this. It is curious, however, that Andrews' Heathery, t. 135, which Bentham cites, is clearly E. Plukeneti, with corollas of 6 1/2–7 1/2 lin. long. The specimens Bentham had in describing were those collected by Drège, Niven, and Zeyher (1098), which show corollas shorter than any others, viz. 3–5 lin. long, and sometimes somewhat globose, nearly 3 lin. in diameter. These are shorter and broader than any others we have seen. We are obliged to cite Wendland's figures with doubt: they are from cultivated specimens, and probably more luxuriant than any wild ones; in fact, we have not seen any figure fairly representing the wild plant, which has a distinct facies, but little like that of E. Plukeneti, and on this account we allow it, with some reluctance, to stand. [This is the plant figured by Salisbury as “ E. Petiverii, var. β,” and the type specimen so named from his herbarium, now at Kew, is a branchlet broken from (as is evidenced by the ends fitting together) the type specimen of E. scariosa in Thunberg's herbarium, on the sheet of which Thunberg has written “ E. Plukenetii β,” and has figured the plant under that name. Salisbury evidently made a mistake in copying and publishing the name as “ E. Petiverii, var. β,” since the plant so named in Thunberg's herbarium is E. Petiveri, var. Willdenovii, Bolus.— N. E. Brown .]