Syn.: Erica vulgaris L., Ericoides vulgaris (L.) Merino
Family: Ericaceae Juss.
Distribution: All of Europe – from the Azores to the Urals, and Western Siberia. Naturalized in Northern America and New Zealand.
Ecology: It grows on heaths, bogs, moors, pastures, in open woods and on rocks, on acid soils, from lowland to mountains. Flowers from July to September.
Description: A low shrub, 15–50 cm high, densely leafy. The leaves are very small, 3 mm long, linear, glabrous. The flowers are in one-sided racemes, drooping, purple. The fruit is a capsule.
Use: The flowers or the flowering stems are used medicinally.
Note: Often cultivated in gardens as an ornamental plant.
These images were taken Czechia, the Hrubý Jeseník, Velká kotlina; the Bohemian Forest, Modrava (July 10 and September 5, 2003).
