Erica arborea

Life-forms

Classification System: APG IV

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Plantae
Cladus: Angiosperms
Cladus: Eudicots
Cladus: Core eudicots
Cladus: Asterids
Ordo: Ericales

Familia: Ericaceae
Subfamilia: Ericoideae
Tribus: Ericeae
Genus: Erica
Subgenus: E. subg. Erica
Sectio: E. sect. Arsace
Species: Erica arborea
Name

Erica arborea L., Sp. Pl.: 353 (1753).
Synonyms

Homotypic
Arsace arborea (L.) Fourr., Ann. Soc. Linn. Lyon, n.s., 17: 113 (1869).
Ericoides arboreum (L.) Kuntze, Revis. Gen. Pl. 2: 966 (1891).
Heterotypic
Erica scoparia Thunb., Erica: 48 (1785).
Erica stylosa Rudolph, J. Bot. (Schrader) 1800(2): 229 (1801).
Erica procera Salisb., Trans. Linn. Soc. London 6: 328 (1802).
Erica elata Hoffmanns. & Link, Fl. Portug. 1: 411 (1813).
Erica acrophya Fresen., Flora 21: 604 (1838).
Erica arborea var. grandiflora Texidor, Revista Progr. Ci. Exact. 18(8–9): 50 (1869).
Erica arborea var. rupestris Chabert, Bull. Soc. Bot. France, 29, Sess. extr. : LIV (1882).
Erica arctata Hort., Vilm. Blumengärtn., ed. 3. 1: 605, (1895), pro syn.
Erica arborea var. alpina Dieck, Moor-Alpenpfl.: 34–35 (1902).
Erica arborea var. perdurantifolia Sennen, Pl. Espagne 1927 no. 6301 (1928).
Erica riojana Sennen & Elías, Bol. Soc. Ibér. Ci. Nat. 28: 177 (1929 publ. 1930).
Erica arborea subsp. riojana (Sennen & Elías) Romo, Collect. Bot. (Barcelona) 12: 155 (1981).
Erica arborea var. mauritanica Sennen & Mauricio, Cat. Fl. Rif Orient. 76 (1933, nom. nud.
Erica lazaroana Rivas Goday & Bellot, Anales Jard. Bot. Madrid 6(2): 152 (1946).
Erica arborea subsp. parviflora Spirlet, Bull. Seances Acad. Roy. Outre-Mer new ser. 3: 1130 (1957).

Homonyms

Erica arborea Brot. = Erica lusitanica subsp. lusitanica
Erica arborea Thunb. = Erica strigosa

Distribution
Native distribution areas:

Continental: Europe
Regional: Northern Europe
Great Britain (introduced).
Regional: Southwestern Europe
Baleares, Corse, France, Portugal, Sardegna, Spain.
Regional: Southeastern Europe
Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Kriti, Sicilia (Sicily), Turkey-in-Europe, Yugoslavia (Croatia, Bosnia-Hercegovina).
Continental: Africa
Regional: Northern Africa
Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia.
Regional: Macaronesia
Madeira (Madeira), Canary Islands (Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Tenerife, La Gomera, Hierro, La Palma)
Regional: West-Central Tropical Africa
Rwanda, Zaire.
Regional: Northeast Tropical Africa
Chad, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan.
Regional: East Tropical Africa
Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda.
Continental: Asia-Temperate
Regional: Caucasus
Transcaucasus (Gruziya).
Regional: Western Asia
East Aegean Islands, Turkey.
Regional: Arabian Peninsula
Saudi Arabia, Yemen.
Continental: Australasia (introduced)
Regional: Australia
Tasmania.
Regional: New Zealand
New Zealand North, New Zealand South.

References: Brummitt, R.K. 2001. TDWG – World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, 2nd Edition

ReferencesPrimary references

Linnaeus, C. 1753. Species Plantarum. Tomus I: 353. Reference page.

Links

Hassler, M. 2020. Erica arborea. World Plants: Synonymic Checklists of the Vascular Plants of the World In: Roskovh, Y., Abucay, L., Orrell, T., Nicolson, D., Bailly, N., Kirk, P., Bourgoin, T., DeWalt, R.E., Decock, W., De Wever, A., Nieukerken, E. van, Zarucchi, J. & Penev, L., eds. 2020. Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life. Published online. Accessed: 2020 Apr 28. Reference page.
Govaerts, R. et al. 2020. Erica arborea in Kew Science Plants of the World Online. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published online. Accessed: 2020 Apr 28. Reference page.
International Plant Names Index. 2020. Erica arborea. Published online. Accessed: Apr 28 2020. Reference page.
Tropicos.org 2020. Erica arborea. Missouri Botanical Garden. Published online. Accessed: 28 Apr 2020.
USDA, ARS, Germplasm Resources Information Network. Erica arborea in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service. Accessed: 07-Oct-06.
Euro+Med 2006 onwards: Erica arborea in Euro+Med PlantBase – the information resource for Euro-Mediterranean plant diversity. Published online. Accessed: 2022 Oct 14.
Tela Botanica (ed.) 2000 onwards: Tela Botanica. Le réseau de la botanique francophone. eFlore. Erica arborea. Association Tela Botanica, Montpellier, France. Accessed: 2022 Oct 14.
Castroviejo, S. et al. (eds.) 2022. Erica arborea in Flora Ibérica. Plantas vasculares de la Península Ibérica, e Islas Baleares. Published online. Accessed: 2022 Oct 14. Reference page.
African Plants Database (version 3.4.0). 14 Oct. Conservatoire et Jardin botaniques de la Ville de Genève and South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria. Accessed: 2022.

Vernacular names
مصرى: خلنج شجرى
العربية: خلنج شجري
català: Bruc boal
corsu: Scopa
čeština: Vřesovec stromovitý
Cymraeg: Grugwydden
dansk: Trælyng
Deutsch: Baum-Heide
English: Tree Heath
Esperanto: Vepreja eriko
español: Brezo arbóreo
eesti: Puis-eerika
euskara: Txilar zuri
suomi: Puukellokanerva
français: Bruyère arborescente
galego: Uz branca
magyar: Cserjés hanga
italiano: Radica
日本語: エイジュ
Taqbaylit: Axlenǧ
Ligure: Brügastro
lombard: Brügh
македонски: Дрвенест врес
Nedersaksies: Boomheed
Nederlands: Boomhei
norsk: Trelyng
occitan: Bruga blanca
polski: Wrzosiec drzewiasty
português: Urze-molar, torgo
русский: Эрика древовидная
sicilianu: Ràdica
sardu: Tuvàra
svenska: Trädljung
Türkçe: Ağaç fundası
українська: Еріка деревовидна
中文: 白歐石楠
Erica arborea, the tree heath or tree heather, is a species of flowering plant (angiosperms) in the heather family Ericaceae, native to the Mediterranean Basin and Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania in East Africa.[1] It is also cultivated as an ornamental.

The wood, known as briar root (French: bruyère, Catalan: bruc, Portuguese: betouro, Spanish: brezo), is extremely hard and heat-resistant, and is used for making smoking pipes. Leaf fossils attributed to this species were described for the Mio-Pleistocene deposit of São Jorge in Madeira Island.[2]
Description

Erica arborea is an upright evergreen shrub or small tree with a typical height in the wild of some 7 m (23 ft), especially in Africa, but more typically 1–4 m (3–13 ft) in gardens. It bears dark green needle-like leaves and numerous small honey-scented bell-shaped white flowers. It is a calcifuge, preferring acid soil in an open sunny situation.[3]
Distribution and habitat

The heather has a disjunct distribution, including Macaronesia, the Mediterranean Basin, Western Caucasus, eastern Africa, and the Arabian Peninsula.

In Macaronesia, it occurs in thermophilous forests, dominating dry and shallow soils, southern aspects, and forest margins.[4] Throughout the Mediterranean Basin, its distribution is not continuous, extending from the Atlantic coasts of Portugal and Spain to the coast of the Black Sea in Turkey and Georgia. The heather occurs within the Mediterranean maquis shrublands in semi-arid habitats but can also be found in forest undergrowth up to 1400 m a.s.l. in fresher and more humid environments. It prefers acidic or acidified soils derived from siliceous substrates.[5] [4] It is also present in an isolated population in the Tibesti Mountains (Chad) in the Sahara, where it occurs at the top of upper montane desert steppe vegetation between 2500 and 3000 m a.s.l.[6] In eastern Africa is normally referred to as giant heather. It occurs in the Ethiopian highlands, in the highest mountains along the East African Rift System, from southern Uganda to northern Malawi. It is also present in the Sarawat Mountains in the southwestern Arabian Peninsula, including Yemen and Saudi Arabia. In Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, the heather is a constituent of the tropical alpine vegetation, dominating the shrubland above the treeline in mountain areas between 3000 and 4000 m a.s.l.[4]

Naturalised populations occur in south-eastern Australia and New Zealand, where tree heath is seen as a potential environmental weed.[7]
Cultivars

Erica arborea was being cultivated as early as 1658.[8] Several cultivars and hybrids have been developed for garden use, of which the following have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit:[9]

E. arborea 'Estrella Gold'[10] (gold-tipped leaves)
E. arborea var. alpina[11]
E. arborea var. alpina f. aureifolia 'Albert's Gold'[12] (gold-leaved)
E. × veitchii 'Gold Tips'[13] (E. arborea × E. lusitanica)

Other tall growing heaths, including the Portugal Heath (Erica lusitanica) and channel heath (Erica canaliculata) may also sometimes be called tree heath.
Uses
Briar pipes on a circular pipe rack

The wood, known as briar root, is extremely hard, dense and heat-resistant, and is primarily used for making smoking pipes, as it does not affect the aroma of tobacco. The football-sized tubers are harvested at the age of 30 to 60 years. They are cooked for several hours, then dried for several months before they are further processed.

The wood is also used for making jewellery, fountain pens and knife handles.
See also

Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub

References

Harvey-Brown, Y.; Barstow, M. (2017). "Erica arborea". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2017: e.T73094040A109616921. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-3.RLTS.T73094040A109616921.en. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
Góis-Marques, Carlos A.; Madeira, José; Sequeira, Miguel Menezes de (2018-01-26). "Inventory and review of the Mio–Pleistocene São Jorge flora (Madeira Island, Portugal): palaeoecological and biogeographical implications". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 16 (2): 159–177. Bibcode:2018JSPal..16..159G. doi:10.1080/14772019.2017.1282991. hdl:10400.13/4191. ISSN 1477-2019. S2CID 132935444.
RHS A-Z encyclopedia of garden plants. United Kingdom: Dorling Kindersley. 2008. p. 1136. ISBN 978-1405332965.
Désamoré, A., Laenen, B., Devos, N., Popp, M., González-Mancebo, J. M., Carine, M. A., Vanderpoorten, A. (2011). Out of Africa: north-westwards Pleistocene expansions of the heather Erica arborea. Journal of Biogeography, 38(1), 164-176. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2699.2010.02387.x
Reille, M., Gamisans, J., Andrieu-Ponel, V., De Beaulieu, J. L. (1999). The Holocene at Lac de Creno, Corsica, France: a key site for the whole island. New Phytologist, 141(2), 291-307. DOI: 10.1046/j.1469-8137.1999.00343.x
Dinies, M., Schimmel, L., Hoelzmann, P., Kröpelin, S., Darius, F., Neef, R. (2021). Holocene high-altitude vegetation dynamics on Emi Koussi, Tibesti mountains (Chad, central Sahara). In: Runge, J., Gosling, WD, Lézine, A.-M., Scott, L., (Eds). Quaternary Vegetation Dynamics — The African Pollen Database, 1st ed. CRC Press, 27-50. DOI: 10.1201/9781003162766
*Noble, M. R. (2016). The weed potential of Erica species for Tasmania and other areas of southern Australia. 20th Australasian Weeds Conference, 11-15 September 2016, Perth, Western Australia.
Brian Proudley; Valerie Proudley (1989). Heathers in Colour (2nd ed.). Blandford Press. p. 15. ISBN 0713714204. "Heathers as garden plants have a surprisingly long history. The valuable winter-flowering Erica carnea was, according to the Royal Horticultural Society's Dictionary of Gardening, introduced into cultivation in this country as long ago as 1763 and the 'Tree heather' E. arborea ... even earlier in 1658."
"AGM Plants - Ornamental" (PDF). Royal Horticultural Society. July 2017. p. 35. Retrieved 6 February 2018.
"RHS Plant Selector - Erica arborea 'Estrella Gold'". Retrieved 7 June 2020.
"RHS Plant Selector - Erica arborea var. alpina". Retrieved 7 June 2020.
"RHS Plant Selector - Erica arborea var. alpina f. aureifolia 'Albert's Gold'". Retrieved 7 June 2020.
"Erica × veitchii 'Gold Tips'". RHS. Retrieved 7 June 2020.