Erica ciliaris | |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Asterids |
Order: | Ericales |
Family: | Ericaceae |
Genus: | Erica |
Species: | E. ciliaris
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Binomial name | |
Erica ciliaris |
Erica ciliaris is a species of heather, known in the British Isles as Dorset heath.[1] It grows to 60 centimetres (24 in), and has leaves 2–4 millimetres (0.08–0.16 in) long, with long, glandular hairs.[1] The flowers are 8–12 mm (0.31–0.47 in) long, bright pink, and arranged in long racemes.[1]
Erica ciliaris has a Lusitanian distribution, stretching from Morocco in the south, along the Atlantic coasts of Portugal, Spain and France to south-western parts of the British Isles in the north.[2] In the British Isles, it is only found natively in Dorset, Devon and Cornwall, where it lives in bogs and wet heaths.[3] It has also been introduced to Hampshire and County Galway.[1] E. ciliaris was voted the county flower of Dorset in 2002 following a poll by the wild flora conservation charity Plantlife.[3]