Erica carnea

Taxobox
name = "Erica carnea"

---

image_width = 240px
image_caption = "Erica carnea" in flower in snow
regnum = Plantae
divisio = Magnoliophyta
classis = Magnoliopsida
ordo = Ericales
familia = Ericaceae
genus = "Erica"
species = "E. carnea"
binomial = "Erica carnea"
binomial_authority = L.

"Erica carnea" (Winter heath, Winter Flowering Heather, or Spring heath; syn. "E. herbacea, E. mediterranea") is a species of heath native to mountainous areas of central and southern Europe in the eastern Alps, where it grows in coniferous woodlands or stony slopes.

It is a low-growing subshrub reaching 10-25 cm tall, with evergreen needle-like leaves 4-8 mm long, borne in whorls of four. The flowers are produced in racemes in late winter to early spring, often starting to flower while the plant is still covered in snow; the individual flower is a slender bell-shape, 4-6 mm long, dark reddish-pink, rarely white.

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 in 1999.

Cultivation and uses

It is very widely grown as an ornamental plant for its winter flowering; over 100 cultivars have been selected for variation in flower and leaf colour. Unlike most species of "Erica", it is tolerant of limestone as well as acidic soils, making it an easier plant to grow in many areas.

External links

* [http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?15448 Germplasm Resources Information Network: "Erica carnea"]
* [http://www.bgbm.fu-berlin.de/iapt/nomenclature/code/SaintLouis/0109AppendixIIIBNSC.htm ICBN: List of conserved names]
* [http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/health_medical/article2411405.ece Grow-your-own Viagra craze hits Britain's garden centres (Published on April Fools Day 2007)]