''Erica carnea'', the winter heath, winter-flowering heather, spring heath or alpine heath, is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriat ...

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants t ...

in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Ericaceae The Ericaceae are a family of flowering plants, commonly known as the heath or heather family, found most commonly in acidic and infertile growing conditions. The family is large, with c.4250 known species spread across 124 genera, making it th ...

native Native may refer to: People * Jus soli, citizenship by right of birth * Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory ** Native Americans (disambiguation) In arts and entert ...

to mountainous areas of central, eastern and southern Europe, where it grows in

coniferous Conifers are a group of cone-bearing seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single extant class, Pinopsida. All ext ...

woodlands or stony slopes.

Description

It is a low-growing, spreading subshrub reaching tall, with

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season. This also pertains to plants that retain their foliage only in warm climates, and contrasts with deciduous plants, whic ...

needle-like

leaves A leaf (plural, : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant plant stem, stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", wh ...

long, borne in whorls of four. The

flower A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...

s are produced in

raceme A raceme ( or ) or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are produced as the s ...

s in late winter to early spring, often starting to flower while the plant is still covered in

snow Snow comprises individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes. It consists of frozen crystalline water throughout ...

; the individual flower is a slender bell-shape, long, dark reddish-pink, rarely white.

Names

The first published name for the species is ''Erica herbacea''; however, the name ''E. carnea'' (published three pages later in the same book) is so widely used, and the earlier name so little used, that a formal proposal to conserve the name ''E. carnea'' over ''E. herbacea'' was accepted by the

International Botanical Congress International Botanical Congress (IBC) is an international meeting of botanists in all scientific fields, authorized by the International Association of Botanical and Mycological Societies (IABMS) and held every six years, with the location rotati ...

in 1999. The Latin specific epithet ''carnea'' means "flesh pink".

Cultivation and uses

It is very widely grown as an

ornamental plant Ornamental plants or garden plants are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars that i ...

for its winter flowering; over 100

cultivar A cultivar is a type of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and when propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue culture, ...

s have been selected for variation in flower and leaf colour. Unlike most species of ''Erica'', which are typically

calcifuges A calcifuge is a plant that does not tolerate alkaline (basic) soil. The word is derived from the Latin 'to flee from chalk'. These plants are also described as ericaceous, as the prototypical calcifuge is the genus ''Erica'' (heaths). It is not ...

, it tolerates mildly alkaline as well as acidic soils, making it easier to grow in many areas. Like other species within the genus ''Erica'' it is often seen as groundcover amongst plantings of dwarf conifers. The following

cultivars A cultivar is a type of Horticulture, cultivated plant that people have selected for desired phenotypic trait, traits and when Plant propagation, propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and st ...

forms Form is the shape, visual appearance, or configuration of an object. In a wider sense, the form is the way something happens. Form also refers to: *Form (document), a document (printed or electronic) with spaces in which to write or enter data * ...

and hybrids have gained the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr (Nort ...

Award of Garden Merit The Award of Garden Merit (AGM) is a long-established annual award for plants by the British Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). It is based on assessment of the plants' performance under UK growing conditions. History The Award of Garden Merit ...

: *'Adrienne Duncan' *'Ann Sparkes' *'Challenger' *'Eva' *'Loughrigg' *'March Seedling' *'Myretoun Ruby' *'Nathalie' *'Pink Spangles' *'Rosalie' *'Vivellii' *'Wintersonne' *''E. carnea'' f. ''alba'' (white-flowered): **'Golden Starlet' **'Ice Princess' **'Isabell' **'Springwood White' *''E. carnea'' f. ''aureifolia'' (golden-leaved): **'Foxhollow' **'Westwood Yellow' *''E.'' × ''darleyensis'' (''E. carnea'' × '' E. erigena'') **'Jenny Porter'

References

External links

*
ICBN: List of conserved names
{{Taxonbar, from=Q248958 Alpine flora

carnea Carneia ( grc, Κάρνεια or ) or Carnea () was one of the tribal traditional festivals of Sparta, the Peloponnese and Doric cities in Magna Grecia, held in honor of Apollo Karneios. Whether Carneus (or Carnus) was originally an old Pe ...

Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus