Cross-leaved Heath - Erica tetralix

A shrubby plant with small pink bell shaped drooping flowers borne in compact clusters at the ends of its shoots, and leaves in whorls of four (hence the English name).

Provide photograph of the whole plant in habitat (RPR)

Marshes, heath and moors.

Flowers July to September.

Perennial.

Widespread throughout much of Britain, but quite local, particularly in central and eastern England.

Rare in Leicestershire and Rutland, confined to a few heathland sites in Charnwood Forest.

In the Flora of Leicestershire (Primavesi and Evans 1988) it was found in 5 of the 617 tetrads, but was not recorded  in the Flora of Rutland (Messenger 1971).

It is listed on the current VC55 Rare Plant Register (Hall and Woodward 2022) as Locally Rare (i.e. present in less than 3 sites)