Erica lusitanica, Rudolphi

Tutin, T. G., Heywood, V. H., Burges, N. A., Moore, D. M., Valentine, D. H., Walters, S. M. & Webb, D. A., 1972, Flora Europaea. Volume 3. Diapensiacea to Myoporaceae, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press : 7

10. E. lusitanica Rudolphi in Schrader, Jour, fü r die Bot. 1799(2): 286 (1800).

Like 9 but a shrub 1-3-5 m, with erect branches; all hairs smooth; leaves 5-7 mm, light green; sepals 1 mm, not saccate; corolla 4-5 mm, tinged with pink, especially in bud; style slender; stigma obconical, red. Damp heaths and wood-margins. • S. W. Europe, from S. Portugal to 44° 30' N. in S. W. France. Ga Hs Lu [Br]. (11-13). E. vagans group. Shrubs 3O-8O(-25O) cm, with decumbent to erect stems; young twigs glabrous or puberulent. Leaves in whorls of 3-5, linear to oblong, glabrous or slightly puberulent; margins revolute, contiguous, concealing the lower surface. Flowers in small axillary clusters, aggregated into terminal or axillary, raceme-like panicles; pedicels much longer than sepals, with 3 small bracteoles near the base. Sepals 1 - 5-2 mm, ovate to ovate-lanceolate, glabrous or finely ciliate, pinkish; corolla 3-7 mm, cylindrical to campanulate; anthers exserted, without appendages. Ovary glabrous; stigma scarcely wider than style. The distinct geographical ranges of the three species consti­ tuting this group have helped to disguise their great morphological similarity. The distinctive characters of 13, however, though inconspicuous, appear to be constant; and although on purely morphological criteria 12 might be reduced to a subspecies of 11, its different habitat, wide geographical separation, and usually rather distinct habit probably justify its retention as an independent species.

1 Anthers c. 1-5 mm; lobes 3-5 times as long as wide, usually parallel and contiguous 13. multiflora

1 Anthers 0-5-1 mm; lobes 1 |- 2 | times as long as wide, widely separated and usually divergent apically

2 Leaves 6-11 mm, patent or somewhat deflexed on older shoots; anthers 0-5-0-8 mm 11. vagans

2 Leaves 4-8 mm, mostly erect or erecto-patent; anthers 0-7-1 mm 12. manipuliflora