Erica cinerea
Environmental Weed (2024)
Common names
bell heather
Biostatus
Exotic
Category
Vascular
Structural class
Trees & Shrubs - Dicotyledons
Flower colours
Red/Pink, Violet/Purple
Detailed description
Small shrub sometimes very low and mat forming. Lvs in whorls of three sometimes opposite, 3-6 mm long, revolute with contiguous margins concealing the lower surface, glabroous except sometimes ciliolate margin. Petioles very short. Fls in terminal racemes, sometimes appearing umbellate. Corolla c. 6 mm long, urceolate, purple, rose, pink or occasionally white, glabrous. Style sometimes sticks out a bit from the corolla. Capsule c. 1.5 mm long.
Habitat
Low stature shrub and tussock communities
Conservation status
Not applicable
Detailed taxonomy
Family
Ericaceae
Ecology
Flowering
December, January, February
Year naturalised
1940
Origin
W. Europe
Reason for introduction
Ornamental
Life cycle and dispersal
People often grow cultivars of this plant and are the chief dispersers.
Other information
Etymology
erica: From the Greek ereika ‘heath’ or ‘heather’
cinerea: Ash-grey
Environmental Weed (2024)
This plant is named in a list of 386 environmental weeds in New Zealand 2024 prepared by DOC. 759 candidate species were considered for inclusion on this new comprehensive list of environmental weeds in New Zealand. The species considered were drawn from published lists of weed species, lists of plants that must be reported or managed by law if observed, existing national and regional programmes and agreements for pest management, and species already managed by the Department of Conservation (DOC). Candidate species were then assessed to see if they were fully naturalised and whether they have more than minor impacts in natural ecosystems. Read the full report here.
NVS code
The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.
ERICIN