Erica ciliaris
{{Short description|Species of flowering plant}}
{{About|the plant commonly known as Dorset heath|the natural region|Dorset Heaths}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Speciesbox
| name = Dorset heath
| image = Erica ciliaris.jpg
| genus = Erica (plant)
| species = ciliaris
| authority = L.
}}
Erica ciliaris, the dorset heath, is a species of flowering plant in the genus Erica.{{cite book|author=Clive A. Stace|author-link=Clive A. Stace|year=2010 |title=New Flora of the British Isles|edition=3rd|chapter=Erica L. – heaths |pages=528–530|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-70772-5}}
Description
It grows to {{convert|60|cm|abbr=off}}, and has leaves {{convert|2|-|4|mm|frac=16|2}} long, with long, glandular hairs. The flowers are {{convert|8|-|12|mm|abbr=on|frac=8}} long, bright pink, and arranged in long racemes.
Distribution and habitat
Erica ciliaris has a Lusitanian distribution, stretching from Morocco in the south, along the Atlantic coasts of Portugal, Spain and France to south-western parts of the British Isles in the north.{{cite journal |author=S. B. Chapman|year=1975|title=The distribution and composition of hybrid populations of Erica ciliaris L. and Erica tetralix L. in Dorset|journal=Journal of Ecology|volume=63|issue=3|pages=809–823|doi=10.2307/2258603|jstor=2258603}} In the British Isles, it is only found natively in Dorset, Devon, Cornwall and one location in County Galway,Erica Ciliaris L. R. J. Rose, P. Bannister and S. B. Chapman Journal of Ecology Vol. 84, No. 4 (Aug., 1996), pp. 617–628 where it lives in bogs and wet heaths.{{cite web|publisher=Plantlife|url=http://www.plantlife.org.uk/wild_plants/plant_species/dorset_heath/|work=County Flowers|title=Dorset heath (Erica ciliaris)|accessdate=July 28, 2011|archive-date=21 September 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110921021759/http://www.plantlife.org.uk/wild_plants/plant_species/dorset_heath|url-status=dead}} It has also been introduced to Hampshire.
In culture
E. ciliaris was voted the county flower of Dorset in 2002 following a poll by the wild flora conservation charity Plantlife.
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q386739}}
Category:Flora of Southwestern Europe
Category:Plants described in 1753
Category:Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus
{{Ericaceae-stub}}