St Dabeoc's heath
Daboecia cantabrica
Family · Ericaceae · Harmless
The heath with large purple bells of northwestern Iberia, with a very strange distribution: it grows here, in northern Spain, western France and Ireland, and nowhere else in the world.
Uplands · Scrubland · Oak woods
Also known asIrish heath, Cantabrian heath
How to tell it
The bells are far larger than any heath's, a centimetre or more, purple-pink and hanging in loose clusters. Small, flat leaves rather than needles, dark green above and white-felted beneath, which is the decisive sign.
What it is confused with
Bell heather
Erica cinerea
Bell size and leaf. St Dabeoc's heath has flowers three to four times larger and a flat leaf with a white underside; bell heather has small flowers and needle leaves.
Open sheet →What it is for
No relevant use, and it is better so. It is a garden plant in several varieties, but in the field its value is different: an Atlantic distribution like this is a living remnant of the climate Europe had before the ice ages.