Cornish heath

Plants decumbent or ascending, 30-60 cm; twigs of current season green, glabrous, ridged from decurrent leaf bases, older twigs light brown, glabrous, rough from raised leaf scars. Leaves in whorls of 4-5; petiole 0.5-1 mm; blade linear-lanceolate, compressed-triangular in cross section, 4.5-6 × 1 mm, margins revolute, ciliate, surfaces glabrous, grooved abaxially. Inflorescences terminal or lateral racemes, ovoid to oblong, 5-10 cm. Pedicels 5-8 mm, glabrous; (bracteoles 2, in basal third, 0.4-0.6 mm, scarious). Flowers: calyx lobes elliptic, 1 × 0.5 mm, margins ciliate, apex obtuse, glabrous; corolla pink or white, broadly campanulate, 2.5-3.5 mm, lobes deltate, 0.5 mm, apex obtuse; stamens 10; filaments 1.5-2 mm; anthers not awned, 0.5-0.8 mm; ovary glabrous; style 3.5-4.5 mm; stigma exserted, filiform, (glabrous). Capsules 1-2 mm, hairy. Seeds ellipsoid, 0.6 × 0.5 mm, finely pitted. 2n = 24.

Flowering late spring-summer. Sandy, acidic, upland sites in old pastures and roadsides; 0-50 m; introduced; Mass., Pa.; w Europe.

The Massachusetts records of Erica vagans are dated 1915 to 1921, from Nantucket Island.