Heath Family:-

Heath Family plant table with its Common Name - Botanical Name. Flowering Months Range. Habitat with link to that Hazel to Lobelia Wild Flower Families Gallery:-

Common Name

Botanical Name

Flowering Months

Habitat

Bearberry

Arctostaphylos uva-ursi

May-June

This procumbent low shrub is found on upland heaths and moorlands, often over well-drained gravelly or rocky ground, and on ravine sides. It sometimes grows in heathy grasslands on limestone, as in the Burren. From sea level in W. Ireland and Ardtoe (Westerness) to c. 710 m (Rannoch Moor, Mid Perth) and reportedly at 915 m in Inverness-shire.

Flower

Fruit from Lurgainn in Sutherland on 4 August

Foliage from Inverpolly on 24 June

Form from Inverpolly in Ross on 24 June

Bell Heather

Erica cinerea

June onwards

This small shrub occurs on thin, acidic, peaty or mineral soils in well-drained situations, on dry heaths, and as an occasional undershrub in open-canopy Pinus sylvestris or Quercus woodland. It is found in some calcareous grasslands that are leached and acidic at the surface (`limestone heath`). 0-790 m (Purple Mountain, S. Kerry).

Flower from West Kerry

Flowers

Foliage

Form from Torriden on 26 June

Bilberry (Syn. Whortleberry, Blaeberry, Huckleberry, Whinberry)

Vaccinium myrtillus

April-June

A calcifugous low shrub, common and locally dominant in well-drained heaths and moorland, especially in upland areas, and as an understorey in acid woodland of Betula, Pinus and Quercus; also found on hummocks in peat bogs in the north and west. It rarely regenerates from seed. 0-1300 m (Ben Macdui, S. Aberdeen).

Flower from Ightham in Kent on 6 May

Flowers

Foliage

Form

Black Bearberry

(Alpine Bearberry, Mountain Bearberry, Arctic Bearberry)

Arctous alpinus

(Arctostaphylos alpinus. Arctous alpina)

May-August

A strictly calcifugous shrub growing on acidic mineral soils or peat. It occurs on exposed upland heath, and in the northern Highlands of Scotland also on drier blanket bog. It is possibly long-lived, and fruiting is often sparse. It mostly occurs at mid-elevations, but descends to 100 m in North Roe (Shetland) and ascends to 945 m on Tom a`Choinich above Glen Affric (Easterness).

Flower from Allt Tarsuinn Inchnadamph in Sutherland on 19 June

Flowers from Allt Tarsuinn Inchnadamph on 19 June

Foliage from Dundonnell in Ross on 30 June

Form from Beinn Eighe on 29 June

Bog Rosemary

(Andromede, Marsh Andromeda, Marsh Holy-Rose, Marsh Holywort, Rosmarinheide)

Andromeda polifolia

May-June

A straggling dwarf shrub of moist to wet acidic peaty ground, most abundant in lowland raised bogs but with scattered occurrences on upland peats. Fruits seldom develop. From sea level to c. 530 m in Wales and England, with an outlying site at 735 m on Mt Keen (S. Aberdeen)

Flower

Flowers

Foliage

Form

Common Rhododendron

Rhododendron ponticum

June

An evergreen shrub naturalised on heathy and rocky hillsides, rocky stream banks and ravines, and as an understorey in woodland on acid soils. It regenerates from seed freely and can form dense thickets. 0-600 m (Eel Crags, Cumberland). It is commonly cultivated and often planted in woods, sometimes becoming locally dominant both as the shrub layer of woods and in the open. Native of Central and Southern Portugal, Southern Spain, Thrace, Asia Minor and Lebanon.

Flower from Bedgebury in June

Flowers from Bedgebury in June

Foliage from Bedgebury in June

Form from Jervaux Abbey in June

Cornish Heath

Erica vagans

July-September

A locally abundant or co-dominant drawf srub in heathland with Calluna and Erica cinerea, or Ulex spp., often with calcicolous herbs, over ultrabasic rocks (serpentine and gabbro); also found on moist gley soils. Seedlings and plantlets can be frequent, but often die of drought; older plants regenerate from the base after winter burning. Lowland.

Cowberry

Vaccinium vitis-idaea

May-June

This calcifuge shrub is found on peaty heaths and moorland, in the understorey of Quercus, Betula and Pinus woods on acidic substrates, and on drier hummocks in blanket bogs. It ascends from 30 m by Lough Neagh (Co. Antrim) to 1095 m on Ben Lawers (Mid Perth).

Flower

Flowers from East Moor on 22 May

Foliage on 17 July

Form from East Moor on 22 May

Cranberry

Vaccinium oxycoccus

June-July

A slender, trailing dwarf shrub found in bogs and on very wet heaths, usually creeping amongst Sphagnum. 0-760 m (Ben Macdui, S. Aberdeen)

Flower

Flowers

Foliage from Swansea Airport Bog on 10 July

Form on 17 July

Cross-leaved Heath

Erica tetralix

June onwards

A sprawling low shrub found in a very wide range of mires and wet heaths, extending into drier heath in S.W. Britain. It is usually on wet, nutrient-poor organic soils, but can also grow in mesotrophic or eutrophic conditions. Generally from the lowlands to c. 670 m, but reaching 880 m in Coire Etchachan (S. Aberdeen).

Flower from Swansea Airport Bog on 10 July

Flowers from Melvaig on 21 June

Foliage from Swansea Airport Bog on 10 July

Form

Dorset Heath

Erica ciliaris

July onwards

This low shrub occurs on moist heathland, extending into relatively dry heath, and also into wet valley bogs, mainly on the drier hummocks. Seedlings establish on bare ground, but in closed habitats reproduction is usually vegetative. Generally lowland, but reaching 400 m on Dartmoor (S. Devon).

Flower on 20 July

Flowers from Wareham on 10 August

Foliage from Isle of Purbeck on 20 July

Form from Isle of Purbeck on 25 August

Irish Heath

(Snow Heath, Winter Heath)

Erica mediterranea

(Erica carnea, Erica erigena)

March-May, and sporadically in winter

A shrub found in damp or boggy, more or less base-rich moorland, usually on slopes, often close to streams or on lake shores. Lowland.

Labrador Tea

Ledum groenlandicum

(Rhododendron groenlandicum, Ledum palustre)

May-June

A low-growing shrub found naturalised on raised bogs and mosses on acidic soils. It spreads by seed. Lowland.

Flower in June

Flowers in June

Foliage in June

Form in May

Ling

Calluna vulgaris

August-September

A low shrub, often dominant on heaths, moors and nutrient-poor grasslands, and in open woodland on acidic soils, ranging from dry exposed habitats to wet peat bogs. It can colonise newly available habitats. 0-1040 m (Macgillycuddy`s Reeks, S. Kerry), with a single bush at 1095 m on Beinn a`Bhuird (S. Aberdeen).

Flower from Matfield in Kent on 31 August

Flowers from Matfield on 31 August

Foliage

Form

Form in Berkshire. Photo by BritishFlora

Mackay's Heath

Erica mackaiana

July-August

The habitats of this low shrub are blanket mire and rocky wet heath, where it occupies a somewhat narrower range of habitat than E. tetralix, avoiding the wettest sites. It grows on deep peat. The Irish plants of E. mackaiana never set seed. Their pollen fertility varies, but they produce sufficient fertile pollen to hybridise freely with E. tetralix to give the sterile hybrid E. x stuartii. Lowland.

Menziesia

(Blue Heath, Blue Mountainheath in USA)

Phyllodoce caerulea

June

This low shrub occurs in acidic, free-draining sites on steep, usually N.- to E.-facing rocky mountain slopes. It is usually found in dwarf shrub communities, though it sometimes occurs in herb-rich grassland. All sites have a prolonged snow-lie. Flowering is irregular, and seed production generally poor. 670-800 m (Ben Alder Forest, Westerness). It is known for 150 years from 1 small area of heather moor on the Sow of Atholl, Perthshire.

Northern Bilberry

(Bog Bilberry)

Vaccinium uliginosum

May-June

A low shrub, locally common on podsolic or peaty acidic soils in upland dwarf-shrub heaths and blanket bog, occasionally in Nardus-Carex bigelowii heath; also, rarely, in calcareous Dryas communities on montane ledges. From 40 m at Loch Awe (Main Argyll) to about 1130 m on Cairngorm (Easterness), but predominantly an upland plant.

Saint Dabeoc's Heath

Daboecia cantabrica

May onwards

This straggling, low shrub occurs on heathland and moorland, often on rocky terrain, usually with other shrubs including Calluna vulgaris, Erica cinerea and Ulex gallii. It grows in thin acidic soils over quartzites or mica-schists, avoiding peat. 0-580 m (Ben Lettery, W. Galway, and Maamtrasna, W. Mayo).

Flower

Flowers from Bedgebury

Foliage from Bedgebury

Form from Bedgebury

Strawberry Tree

Arbutus unedo

August onwards

A small tree found as a native in heathy scrub and open woodland on rocky slopes and lake shores, on limestone, conglomerate, slates and sandstones; typically on very shallow soil, or rooted into rock. It also occurs as an escape from cultivation, and has become invasive at the Great Orme (Caerns.) and possibly elsewhere. Reproduction is by seed. Lowland.

Flower

Flowers

Foliage in September

Fruit

Wild Azalea

(Loiseleuria, Trailing Azalea)

Loiseleuria procumbens

(Chamaecistus procumbens, Azalea procumbens)

May-June

This procumbent, calcifugous dwarf shrub is found on exposed, stony mountain heaths on dry ridges and plateaux. Reproduction is mainly by seed, but it also spreads by rooting of the procumbent stems. Generally found from 500 to 900 m, but descends to 240 m on Ronas Hill (Shetland) and reaches 1100 m on Ben Macdui (S. Aberdeen).

Flower

Flowers from Beinn Nan Cruaimpseng on 23 June

Foliage from Beinn Nan Cruaimpseng on 23 June

Form from Beinn Eighe on 29 June