Blaeria
(named after Patrick Blair, M.D., F.R.S., who practised medicine at Boston, in Lincolnshire, and was author of "Miscellaneous Observations," 1718; "Botanic Essays," 1820, &c.). ORD. Ericaceae. Pretty little greenhouse evergreen shrubs, natives of Southern and Tropical Africa. Flowers terminal, glomerate; corolla short-tubular, with a four-cleft limb, very freely branched. Leaves verticillate, with revolute margins. For culture, see Erica. B. articulata (jointed).* fl. reddish; heads drooping. May. l. four in a whorl, ovate or linear, glabrous, and shining; bracts solitary. h. 1ft. 1795. B. ericoides (Heath-like). fl. purplish-red. August. l. four in a whorl, oblong, obtuse, ringed; bracts three, length of the calyx. h. 2ft. 1774. SYN. Erica orbicularis. (L. B. C. 153.) B. purpurea (purple). fl. purple; heads drooping. June. l. four in a whorl, ovate, sub-ciliated. Stem flexuous, erect. h. 2ft. 1791.