Erica

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Erica

Erica (heaths or heathers) is a genus

Genus

A genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The taxonomic ranks are domain , kingdom , phylum, class , order , family , genus, and species....
of over 700 species of flowering plant

Flowering plant

The flowering plants or angiosperms are the most widespread group of Embryophytes. The flowering plants and the gymnosperms are the only extant groups of Spermatophyte....
s in the family Ericaceae

Ericaceae

The plant family Ericaceae are mostly calcium oxide-hating plants that thrive in acid soils. Many well-known plants of the Ericaceae live in temperate climates, such as cranberry, blueberry, Erica, Calluna vulgaris, huckleberry, azalea and rhododendron....
. The English common names "heath" and "heather" are shared by some closely related genera of similar appearance.

Most of the species are small shrub

Shrub

A shrub or bush is a horticulture rather than strictly Botany category of woody plant, distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and lower height, usually less than 5-6 m tall....
s from 0.2-1.5 m high, though some are taller; the tallest are E. arborea (Tree Heath

Tree heath

The tree heath is a shrub or small evergreen tree with a typical height of 1-4m, with some specimens reaching 7m. The numerous small flowers are white....
) and E. scoparia (Besom Heath), both of which can reach up to 6-7 m tall.

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Encyclopedia

Erica (heaths or heathers) is a genus

Genus

Flowering plant

Ericaceae

Shrub

Tree heath

Evergreen

In botany, an evergreen plant is a plant having leaf all year round. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which completely lose their foliage for part of the year....
, with minute needle-like leaves

Leaf

In botany, a leaf is an above-ground plant Organ specialized for photosynthesis. For this purpose, a leaf is typically flat and thin, to expose the cells containing chloroplast to light over a broad area, and to allow light to penetrate fully into the tissues....
2-15 mm long. Flowers are sometimes axillary, and sometimes in terminal umbels or spikes, and are usually outward or downward facing. Flowers are borne in mass, and the plants are grown as landscape

Landscape

Landscape comprises the visible features of an area of land, including physical elements such as landforms, living elements of flora and fauna, abstract elements such as lighting and weather conditions, and human elements, for instance human activity or the built environment....
or garden

Garden

A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the display, cultivation, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The garden can incorporate both natural and man-made materials....
plants for their floral effect. The seed

Seed

A seed is a small Plant embryogenesis plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some Food storage. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant....
s are very small, and in some species may persist in the soil for decades.

Approximately 600 of the species are endemic

Endemic (ecology)

Endemism is the ecological state of being unique to a particular geographic location, such as a specific island, Habitat type, nation, or other defined zone....
to South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa, also known by Official names of South Africa, is a country located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa....
, and these are often called the Cape heaths. The remaining 70 or so species are native to other parts of Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km? including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area....
, the Mediterranean region, and Europe

Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
.

Like most of the rest of the Ericaceae, Erica species are mainly calcifugous

Calcifuge

A calcifuge is a plant that does not tolerate alkaline 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 ....
, being limited to acid

Acid

An acid is traditionally considered any chemical compound that, when dissolved in water, gives a solution with a hydrogen ion Activity greater than in pure water, i.e....
ic or very acidic soils – from dry, sandy soils to extremely wet ones such as bog

Bog

A bog or mire is a wetland type that accumulates acidic peat, a deposit of dead plant material—usually mosses, but also lichens in Arctic climates....
. They often dominate

Dominance (ecology)

File:Rhizophora yngtree.jpgEcological dominance is the degree to which different species in an Community predominate. In most communities, one or a few species are most numerous, or form the bulk of the biomass – these are the dominant species....
dwarf-shrub

Chamaephyte

A Chamaephyte or dwarf-shrub is a plant that bears hibernating buds on persistent shoots near the ground ? woody plants with Perennating organ buds borne close to the ground, no more than above soil surface....
habitats (heathland

Heath (habitat)

A heath or heathland is a Chamaephyte habitat found on mainly infertile acidic soils, characterised by open, low growing woody vegetation, often Dominance by plants of the Ericaceae....
and moorland

Moorland

File:Pennine scenery.jpgMoorland or moor is a type of Habitat found in upland areas, characterised by low growing vegetation on acidic soils....
), or the ground vegetation of open acidic woodland

Woodland

Ecologically, a woodland is an area covered in trees, usually at low density, forming an open habitat, allowing sunlight to penetrate between the trees, and limiting shade....
.

The closely related genus Calluna
Calluna

Calluna vulgaris, Common Heather, ling, or simpy "heather" is a heather, the sole species in the genus Calluna in the family Ericaceae....
was formerly included in Erica – it differs in having even smaller scale-leaves (less than 2-3 mm long), and the flower corolla being more divided into separate petals.

Plants of this genus are eaten by the larva

Larva

A larva is a young form of animal with indirect developmental biology, going through or undergoing metamorphosis .The larva can look completely different from the adult form, for example, a caterpillar differs from a butterfly....
e of many Lepidoptera

Lepidoptera

Lepidoptera is an order of insect that includes moths and butterfly. It is one of the most speciose orders in the class Insecta, encompassing moths and the three superfamilies of butterfly, skipper , and Hedylidae....
species including Emperor Moth

Emperor Moth

The Small Emperor Moth is a moth of the family Saturniidae. It is sometimes placed in the genus Saturnia . It occurs throughout the Palearctic region and is the only member of its family to be found in the British Isles....
, Garden tiger moth

Garden tiger moth

File:Arctia caja.jpgThe garden tiger moth is a moth of the Arctiidae family.It has a wingspan of 45 to 65 millimetres . The design of the wings varies: the front wings are brown with a white pattern , the back wings orange with a pattern of black dots....
, True Lover's Knot

True lover's knot

"True lover's knot" is also the name of a species of European moth, Lycophotia porphyrea.The true lover's knot is the name for several knots, including the middleman's knot, fisherman's knot and shamrock knot....
, Wormwood Pug

Wormwood Pug

The Wormwood Pug is a moth of the family Geometer moth. It is a common species across the Palearctic region and the Near East.The wingspan is 21-23 mm and the forewings are warm brown with two black spots along the Glossary of Lepidopteran terms with a black discal spot completing a distinctive triangle....
and the Coleophora
Coleophora

Coleophora is a very large genus of moths of the family Coleophoridae with around 1000 described species. The genus is represented on all continents but the majority are found in the Nearctic and Palaearctic regions....
case-bearers C. juncicolella and C. pyrrhulipennella.

Erica

See also