Heather

European species

Kind Calluna

Calluna vulgaris (L.) Hull (Syn. : Ericodes vulgaris (L.) Merino) - Heather callune, common heather: Europe, North Africa and minor Asia. VAr. hirsuta Gray is with tomenteuses sheets.

Kind Bruckenthalia

Bruckenthalia spiculifolia (Salisb.) Rchb. (Syn. Erica spiculifolia Salisb.) - ear heather: Balkans.

Kind Daboecia

Daboecia azorica Tutin & E.F. Warb. (Syn. : Daboecia polifolia sensu Trel., not D. Don): endemic of the Azores.
Daboecia cantabrica (Huds.) K. Koch (Syn. : Bryanthus polifolius Merino, Daboecia polifolia D. Don) - Cantabric heather, heather of St - Daboec: west of France (Maine-et-Loire and Large Brière), Ireland and north of the Iberian peninsula.

Kind Erica

Erica arborea L. - arborescent Heather: shrubby heather; Mediterranean basin, Macaronésie and mountains of Eastern Africa.
Erica australis L. (Syn. : Erica aragonensis Willk., Erica occidentalis Merino) - southern heather: shrubby heather; Iberian peninsula.
Erica ciliaris L. - ciliée heather: west of France, British Isles, Iberian peninsula and North Africa.
Erica cinerea L. - ashy Heather: Western Europe until in Norway and Macaronésie.
Erica erigena R. Ross (Syn. : Erica mediterranea auct., not L., Erica purpurascens auct., not L., Erica hibernica (Hook. & Arn.) Syme, not Utinet) - heather of Ireland, heather of the Mediterranean: shrubby heather; Ireland, south-west of France (the Gironde) and north of the Iberian peninsula.
Erica herbacea L. (Syn. : Erica mediterranea L., Erica carnea L.) - heather of snows: The adjacent Alps and areas, the Apennines and north of Balkans, in calcareous or dolomitic ground.
Erica lusitanica Rudolphi - heather of Portugal: shrubby heather; south-west of France (Moors) and Iberian peninsula, naturalized in Brittany and in the south of England.
Erica mackaiana Bab. (Syn. : Erica mackaii Hook.) - heather of MacKay: endemic in two disjoined areas: west of Ireland and Galicie.
Erica manipuliflora Salisb. (Syn. : Erica verticillata Forssk., not P.J. Bergius) - verticillate heather: Italy, Balkans and minor Asia.
Erica will multiflora L. - heather with many flowers: Western Mediterranean region and North Africa.
Erica scoparia L. - heather with brushes: shrubby heather; Atlantic Europe, Italy, Macaronésie, North Africa; naturalized in the Netherlands. Subsp. azorica (Hochst.) D.A. Webb (Syn. : Erica azorica Hochst.): endemic of the Azores.
Erica sicula Guss. (Syn. : Pentapera sicula (Guss.) Klotzsch) - heather of Sicily: Sicily, North Africa and minor Asia.
Erica terminalis Salisb. (Syn. : Erica stricta Gift ex Willd., Erica multicaulis Salisb.) - heather of Corsica: shrubby heather; Corsica, Sardinia, south of Italy and Spain, North Africa.
Erica tetralix L. - heather of the marshes (or “quaternate heather” in the High Fagnes): all Europe.
Erica umbellata L. - heather into ombelle: Iberian peninsula and North Africa.
Erica vagans L. - wandering heather, heather of Cornouailles: Atlantic Europe.

Where the parents grow together one can meet natural hybrids, in particular:

Erica X praegeri Ostenf. (Syn. Erica X stuartii Linton), hybrid between Erica tetralix and Erica mackaiana .
Erica X watsonii Benth., hybrid between Erica ciliaris and Erica tetralix .
Erica X williamsii Druce, hybrid between Erica tetralix and Erica vagans .

Culture

More than 100 cultivars of Calluna vulgaris were selected for their habitus (crawling or drawn up, dwarf or shrubby), the color of their flowers (white, pink, lilac or red) and of their foliage (green, grisâtre, gilded or bronzes), and their period of flowering (June at December). Some cultivars are with double flowers, others are cléistogames. The rusticity of the cultivars is variable; the majority are rustic with very rustic, some are frost susceptible.

The rusticity of the species of the kind Erica is very variable. Most rustic are Erica herbacea and Erica tetralix . Erica cinerea , Erica terminalis and Erica vagans and the hybrids Erica X praegeri , Erica X watsonii and Erica X williamsii are a little less rustic. Erica arborea , Erica ciliaris and Erica mackaiana fears the strong frosts. Erica lusitanica , Erica will manipuliflora , Erica will multiflora , Erica scoparia and Erica umbellata is not very rustic. Bruckenthalia spiculifolia is fairly rustic. Daboecia cantabrica fears the strong frosts.

Many a cultivars, especially of Erica cinerea , Erica herbacea , Erica tetralix and Erica vagans , was selected for their habitus, the color of their flowers and their foliage, and their period of flowering.

The following horticultural hybrids are widespread in culture:

Erica X darleyensis Bean - heather of Darley, an hybrid between Erica herbacea and Erica erigena obtained by J. Smith & Sounds, Darley Paves about 1890. Several clones are in culture, in particular `Darley Dale' with pink flowers, `Silberschmelze' with white flowers with long flowering (November at May) and `Kramers Rote' with red flowers. These hybrids are fairly rustic.
Erica X veitchii Bean, an hybrid between Erica arborea and Erica lusitanica obtained by R. Veitch & Sounds, Exeter about 1905, with abundant flowering of white flowers in April - May. This hybrid is frost susceptible.

Some cultivars of Daboecia cantabrica was also selected for the color of their flowers (white, pink or purple). Daboecia X scotica is a very floriferous hybrid between Daboecia cantabrica and Daboecia azorica .

The majority of the heathers require a humus-bearing and acid ground. Erica herbacea , Erica X darleyensis and Erica terminalis supports a little limestone.

African species

There exists more than 700 other African species of the kind Erica .

The majority of the species are originating in South Africa, where they push with the Protea and other shrubby species in the fynbos (the South-African maquis). The majority of the South-African heathers have large tubulées flowers.

These species are unfortunately little or not rustic. Some like Erica cerinthoides and Erica will grandiflora with orange flowers, Erica speciosa with red flowers, or Erica doliiformis and Erica mammosa with pink flowers, can be cultivated outside in south-west or in Mediterranean region.

Various selections of the hybrid Erica X hyemalis are presented out of pot like plants of flower stand.

Sources

Harry van of Laar, Het heidetuinboek , Zomer & Keuning Boeken B.V., Wageningen, 1977 - ISBN 90.210 0385 6 (nl)
Gordon Cheers, Botanica , Könemann Verlaggesellschaft mbH, Köln, 1999 - ISBN 3 8290 1953 X (nl)

External bonds

Flora Europaea
Flora off the Western Wraps
Geographical affinities off the Cape Flora, South Africa

See too

Gardens of Callunes, botanical garden giving the best place to the heathers.

Note

Species of other kinds are sometimes also called “heather” - heather (in) , lyng (No) , in particular:

the andromède ( Andromeda polifolia L.), bog rosemary (in) , rosmarinlyng (No) - a boreal species that one also meets that and there Central Europe until in the east of Belgium and France
the blue andromède ( Phyllodoce caerulea (L.) Bab.), blue heather (in) , blålyng (No) - a boreal species with presence of glacial stations relics in Scotland and in the Pyrenees
one empétracée: the camarine ( Empetrum nigrum L.), crowberry (in) , kreklyng (No) - an artico-alpine species. In the moors of high mountain it is replaced by the subsp. hermaphroditicum (Hagerup) Böcher. NB: the phylogenetic classification currently incorporates the Empétracées in the Éricacées.

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