 Photo ©
Carl Farmer |
Found here and there on moorland, including high ground above the heather line, but can be at low elevations. Flower c 5-7 mm long (petals from base to tip), fruit c 8-10 mm, leaves 1-3 cm long. Skye ID: Leaves leathery, glossy, dark green, hairless, margins turned down, paler but not whitish or bluish beneath. Even without flowers and fruit these characters (if leaves look like these pics) distinguish it from any other member of the heather family or any other moorland or mountain shrub. Other features: Evergreen creeping shrub. Leaves have gland-dots on underside and are often slightly notched at tip. Leaves may appear toothed or not owing to inrolled margins. Flowers and fruit in groups of about 4-6 in drooping clusters at the ends of the stems. Stems round in cross-section, not angled like those of Bilberry. Hybridises with Bilberry to give plants with slightly ridged stems and flowers mostly in groups of 2-3 in the leaf-axils. |
