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Erica tetralix
Also called Bog Heather, Cross-leaved Heath, Cross Leaf Heath, Moor Heath
Crossleaf heath (Erica tetralix) is a small, evergreen perennial subshrub of the heather family, with whorls of four leaves and drooping pink bell-shaped flowers in summer and autumn. Grow it in acidic, moist to wet soil in full sun, as it is a lime-hating (calcifuge) plant.
Erica tetralix, the cross-leaved heath, is a species of flowering plant in the family Ericaceae, native to western Europe.
In cultivation, like other heathers, E. tetralix requires an acidic soil, as it is a calcifuge. Numerous cultivars have been developed for garden use, of which E. tetralix f. alba 'Alba Mollis' (a white-flowered variety) and E. tetralix f. stellata 'Pink Star' have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.
E. tetralix is native to western Europe from southern Portugal to central Norway, as well as a number of boggy regions further from the coast in Central Europe such as Austria and Switzerland. It has also been introduced to parts of North America.
Tree Heath · Spanish Heath · Hairy grey heather · Winter heath · Fire heath · Scotch heath · Darley Dale Heath · Irish Heath · Hairyflower Heath · Portuguese Heath · Erica mackaiana · Nine-pin heath
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Erica tetralix by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
