Common name:
Cross-leaved heather
Family:
Scientific name:
Erica tetralix
Main flower color:
Range:
Across most of the UK, though absent from much of the southeast
Height:
Up to 30 cm
Habitat:
Bogs, wet heaths and moors, on acidic soils
Flowers:
In a spherical cluster atop the little-branched stem, generally angled to one side. Flowers have a pale pink (sometimes pure white), urn-shaped corolla, up to 7 mm long, and a much shorter calyx coated with reddish, glandular bristles. The stamens are hidden within the corolla, while the disc-like stigma is slightly exserted
Leaves:
Greyish-green, up to 5 mm long, linear, with margins rolled under and a covering of glandular bristles. In whorls of four
Season:
June to October
Rarity:
★★★★★
