IDENTIFICATION

It is a bush (up tp 2,5 m high) with young branches covered in hairs. The leaves are elongated and grouped in whorls of four, they have a linear shape and the edge hides the underside. The young leaves are slightly covered with fuzz. The flowers are grouped in umbels type terminal inflorescences, on the branch tips, with 4 to 10 flowers.  They are actinomorphic (more than one symmetry plan), with a rounded shape, four oval or elongated petals and sepals, also slightly covered with furs, of a pink colour. The fruit is a small capsule covered with furs, housing multiples seeds with a rough surface.

WHERE DOES IT LIVE?

It is a typical plant of acid substrates (sandy, serpentines, peridotites) characterized by humid forests or linked to the humidity provided by water streams. It grows in pines, cork oaks and gall oaks forests, between 100 and 1500 meters above sea level.

HOW DOES IT LIVE?

It is a monoecious and hermaphrodite species (flowers with both sexes on a single plant). The pollination stage is aided by insects (entomophil).

WHERE CAN WE SEE IT IN MÁLAGA?

It is a common and abundant species in areas of the province which have arid soils, like for example the Genal Valley, the Cortes Mountains and in some streams of Sierra Almijara. On the Great Path, it can be detected on stages 5 to 6 and 25 to 28.

CURIOUS FACTS

Its traditional use has always been the fabrication of canopies and makeshift shelters. Actually it is used to regenerate sand dunes. With this plant passive sand collectors are created, corridors that are installed on the dune so that the wind gives it its usual shape back. Erica comes from the Greek erikein-ereiké, which means to break, since once dried, its branches are easily cut and its leaves come off easily. The specific epithet terminalis refers to the flowers localisation on the plant, which means that they are on the tip of the branches.

SIMILAR SPECIES

It can be confused with other heather species. The heather can be differentiated from the rest as its flowers appear on the further extremity of the branches, creating groups looking like umbels of a pink colour.