Irish wildflowers BSBI map

Mackay's Heath, Erica mackaiana, Fraoch mhic aoidh
Photographs © Charles Nelson

Mackay's Heath
Erica mackaiana
Fraoch mhic aoidh
Family: Ericaceae

Flowering August - September. Evergreen sub-shrub. Native

Very similsr to Cross-leaved Heath but with deeper pink flowers, the reddish sepals with gland-tipped bristles. Branching is denser and the leaf edges are only slightly rolled under, showing the white underside.

Part of Ireland's Lusitanian Flora. Very rare, only found in a few sites near the south-west, west and north-west Irish coasts on wet, rocky heathland and blanket bog

Hybridises with Cross-leaved Heath, Erica tetralix and the sterile hybrid Erica x stuartii is found at all sites where Mackay's Heath is present.

Mackay's Heath, Erica mackaiana, Fraoch mhic aoidh

Mackay's Heath, Erica mackaiana, Fraoch mhic aoidh
Mackay's Heath, Erica mackaiana, Fraoch mhic aoidh

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