Scientific name: Calluna vulgaris (L.) Hull
Common name: Heather
Description
Habit: A decumbent to erect, bushy, evergreen shrub, to 1.2 m high.
Stems: Woody, erect, branched, usually hairless but occasionally with numerous white hairs.
Leaves: Opposite, stalkless, erect and crowded and overlapping, entire, triangular in cross section, 3 mm long, oblong.
Flowers: Pink-purple, hermaphrodite, 3-4 mm, numerous, in terminal spike-like racemes; each flower with few bracts at its base; calyx corolla-like, 4 pink sepals; corolla pink, smaller and concealed within calyx, with 4 triangular lobes; ovary superior.
Fruits: A capsule, surrounded by persistent calyx.
Habitat: Moors, bogs, heaths and also limestone pavement.
Distribution: Abundant on acid soils, locally frequent on limestone.
Native status: Native
Of conservation interest: No