Erica is a
genus of roughly 857
species of
flowering plants in the
familyEricaceae.[3] The English common names heath and heather are shared by some closely related genera of similar appearance. The genus Calluna was formerly included in Erica – it differs in having even smaller scale-leaves (less than 2–3 millimetres long), and the flower
corolla consisting of separate petals. Erica is sometimes referred to as "winter (or spring) heather" to distinguish it from Calluna "summer (or autumn) heather".
Description
Most of the species of Erica are small
shrubs from 20–150 centimetres (8–59 inches) high, though some are taller; the tallest are E. arborea (tree heath) and E. scoparia (besom heath), both of which can reach up to 7 metres (23 feet) tall. All are
evergreen, with minute, needle-like
leaves 2–15 millimetres (1⁄8–5⁄8 in) long. Flowers are sometimes axillary, and sometimes borne in terminal
umbels or spikes, and are usually outward or downward facing. The
seeds are very small, and in some species may survive in the soil for decades.
Taxonomy
Dulfer[4][5] published the last revision of the genus Erica in the 1960s, treating 605 species. Many new species have subsequently been described (particularly in South Africa) and a further 83 have been included in Erica from former "minor genera", such as Phillipia Klotzsch and Blaeria L.[6] A more recent overview of Erica species is provided in an electronic identification aid,[7] but a modern taxonomic revision of the genus as a whole is still lacking.
Phylogeny
A number of increasingly detailed phylogenetic hypotheses for Erica have been published based on nuclear
ribosomal and
plastid DNA sequences.[8][9][10][11] The closest relatives of Erica are Daboecia (one or two species) and Calluna (monospecific), representing the oldest surviving lineages of a, by inference, ancestrally Palearctic tribe Ericeae.[9] The small number of European Erica species represent the oldest lineages of the genus, within which a single, order-of-magnitude more species-rich, African clade is nested.[10] Within the African clade, Cape and Madagascan/Mascarene species respectively represent
monophyletic groups.[11]
Around 690 of the species are
endemic to South Africa, and these are often called the Cape heaths, forming the largest genus in the
fynbos.[15] The remaining species are native to other parts of Africa, Madagascar, the Mediterranean, and Europe.
Like most Ericaceae, Erica species are mainly
calcifuges, being limited to
acidic or very acidic soils. In fact, the term "ericaceous" is frequently applied to all calcifuges, and to the
compost used in their cultivation.[16] Soils range from dry, sandy soils to extremely wet ones such as
bog. They often
dominatedwarf-shrub habitats (
heathland and
moorland), or the ground vegetation of open acidic
woodland.
Erica species are grown as landscape or garden plants for their floral effect. They associate well with
conifers and are frequently seen in planting schemes as massed groundcover beneath varieties of dwarf conifers. They are capable of producing flower colour throughout the year. They can also be grown in tubs or window boxes to provide interest through autumn and into winter.[18]
^"Erica Tourn. ex L."Plants of the World Online. Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. 2017. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
^Stevens, P.F. (2001 onwards). "
Ericaceae genera". Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
^Manning, John; Paterson-Jones, Colin (2007). Field Guide to Fynbos. Struik Publishers, Cape Town. p. 224.
ISBN978-1-77007-265-7.
^Dulfer, H (1964). "Revision der Südafrikanischen Arten der Gattung Erica L. 1 Teil". Annalen des Naturhistorischen Museums in Wien. 67: 79–147.
JSTOR41769215.
^Dulfer, H (1965). "Revision der Südafrikanischen Arten der Gattung Erica L. 2 Teil". Annalen des Naturhistorischen Museums in Wien. 68: 25–177.
JSTOR41764839.
^McGuire, Avery F.; Kron, Kathleen A. (2005). "Phylogenetic Relationships of European and African Ericas". International Journal of Plant Sciences. 166 (2): 311–318.
doi:
10.1086/427478.
ISSN1058-5893.
S2CID85222709.
^
abPirie, Michael D.; Oliver, E.G.H.; Bellstedt, Dirk U. (2011). "A densely sampled ITS phylogeny of the Cape flagship genus Erica L. suggests numerous shifts in floral macro-morphology". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 61 (2): 593–601.
doi:
10.1016/j.ympev.2011.06.007.
ISSN1055-7903.
PMID21722743.
^Scarborough, John (1992). Medical Terminologies : Classical Origins Oklahoma Series in Classical Culture. Vol. 13. University of Oklahoma Press. p. 20.
ISBN978-0-806-13029-3.
^Gledhill, David (2008). The Names of Plants. Cambridge University Press. p. 156.
ISBN978-0-521-86645-3.
^Manning, John (2012). Plants of the Greater Cape Floristic Region: 1: the core Cape flora. Pretoria: South African National Biodiversity Institute, SANBI.
ISBN978-1-919976-74-7.
^Shorter Oxford English dictionary, 6th ed. United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. 2007. p. 3804.
ISBN978-0199206872.