Heather - Calluna vulgaris

Short to medium carpeting plant to 80 cm. Leaves opposite, scale like and congested. Flowers pale purple to pinkish lilac, 3 to 4 mm in slender racemes.

Indicator Species - Leicestershire, Leicester & Rutland Local Nature Recovery Strategy.

Provide a photograph of the plant in its habitats. (RPR)

Moors, open woodland, bogs and banks on acid soils.

July to September.

Perennial subshrub.

Widespread and fairly common though sometimes local in Britain.

Very local in Leicestershire and Rutland with most Leicestershire records coming from the Charnwood Forest area.

In the Flora of Leicestershire (Primavesi and Evans 1988) it was found in 37 of the 617 tetrads, and in the Flora of Rutland (Messenger 1971) in 3 tetrads.

It is listed on the current VC55 Rare Plant Register (Hall and Woodward 2022), because of its threat level.