Family:

Ericaceae

Habitat:

evergreen maquis, on acid soils

Growth habit:

woody shrub

Plant size:

up to 4 m high

Flower colour:

white

Flowering time

February - April

Leaf characteristics:

Leaves 3 - 4 whorled, needle-like, 0.5 mm wide, 3 - 5 mm long, glabrous, leaf margin toothed, strongly curled downwards (starvation morphosis)

Flower characteristics:

Inflorescences terminal, very rich-flowered, long, pedicels glabrous, a few small bracts present below the centre, 4 sepals ovate, glabrous, 1.5 mm long, corolla bell-shaped, 2.5 - 4 mm long, with 4 straight, triangular cymes, 8 stamens with reddish-brown anthers enclosed by the corolla, style protruding widely,

fruit:

Fruit a multi-seeded, wall-cleft, bare dry capsule

Special features:

The tree heath is evergreen and looks bushy. Its branches are upright, strongly branched, white with protruding hairs when young and later with reddish-brown bark. In France, the wood of the tree heather is used to make the briar pipe (French briar = heather). The plant avoids shallow calcareous soils and sites with a lack of humus due to the extreme dryness. Poor sites can nevertheless be colonised by the species due to the endothermic mycorrhiza.