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''Erica vagans'', the Cornish heath or wandering heath, is a species of flowering plant in the family Ericaceae,
Cornish heath is an evergreen subshrub, growing to a height of . The small linear leaves with pale undersides and down-rolled margins grow in whorls of four or five on the wiry stems. The inflorescence is a fat, leafy spike with a few long-stalked, globular flowers; these are pink or lilac and have brown stamens that protrude from the open mouths. The flowering period is from July to September.
In Great Britain it is only found on the Lizard peninsula in southern Cornwall, where the unusual geology gives rise to the
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 Ireland, Cornwall, western France and Spain. It is a vigorous, spreading, evergreen heather reaching tall and wide, with pink flowers borne 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 long in summer and autumn. The Latin specific epithet
In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...
''vagans'' literally means "wandering"; in this context it means "widely distributed".
Description
Cornish heath is an evergreen subshrub, growing to a height of . The small linear leaves with pale undersides and down-rolled margins grow in whorls of four or five on the wiry stems. The inflorescence is a fat, leafy spike with a few long-stalked, globular flowers; these are pink or lilac and have brown stamens that protrude from the open mouths. The flowering period is from July to September.
Cornish population
In Great Britain it is only found on the Lizard peninsula in southern Cornwall, where the unusual geology gives rise to the acid soils
Soil pH is a measure of the acidity or basicity (alkalinity) of a soil. Soil pH is a key characteristic that can be used to make informative analysis both qualitative and quantitatively regarding soil characteristics. pH is defined as the neg ...
that it favours. It was voted the County flower of Cornwall in 2002 following a poll by the wild flora conservation charity Plantlife. It is often considered the Cornish floral emblem. According to one story this is because when Joseph of Arimathea first arrived in Cornwall looking for tin he had nowhere to stay, so he spent his first night on a bed of Cornish heather. In thankfulness, he blessed the plant and it has been a blessed plant ever since.
Cultivation
Like almost all plants in the heath family (Ericaceae), ''E. vagans'' requires an acidic or, at the very least, neutral soil to thrive. In areas with alkaline (basic) soil, this can be achieved by planting ''E. vagans'' in containers with ericaceous compost. Numerous cultivars have been developed with a range of flower colours in white, pink, mauve and purple.AGM cultivars
The following cultivars have gained the Royal Horticultural Society'sAward 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 ...
:-
*''E. vagans'' ‘Mrs D.F. Maxwell’
*''E. vagans'' f. ''alba'' 'Cornish Cream' (white-flowered variety)
*''E. vagans'' f. ''alba'' 'Kevernensis Alba' (white-flowered variety)
*''E. vagans'' f. ''alba'' 'Lyonnesse'
*''E. vagans'' f. ''aureifolia'' 'Valerie Proudley' (gold-leaved variety)
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1134318 Environment of Cornwall vagans Flora of England Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus