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Erica mackaiana Bab.

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Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Erica mackaiana' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/erica/erica-mackaiana/). Accessed 2024-04-19.

Genus

Synonyms

  • E. mackaii Hook.

Glossary

clone
Organism arising via vegetative or asexual reproduction.
corolla
The inner whorl of the perianth. Composed of free or united petals often showy.
glabrous
Lacking hairs smooth. glabrescent Becoming hairless.
hybrid
Plant originating from the cross-fertilisation of genetically distinct individuals (e.g. two species or two subspecies).
ovate
Egg-shaped; broadest towards the stem.
variety
(var.) Taxonomic rank (varietas) grouping variants of a species with relatively minor differentiation in a few characters but occurring as recognisable populations. Often loosely used for rare minor variants more usefully ranked as forms.

References

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Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Erica mackaiana' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/erica/erica-mackaiana/). Accessed 2024-04-19.

This heath has been regarded by many authorities as a variety of E. tetralix or a hybrid between it and E. ciliaris, but is now accepted as an authentic species. It is about 1 ft high, with its leaves in whorls of four, ovate-oblong, the margins less recurved than in E. tetralix; and thus apparently broader; usually glabrous above. The flowers are in terminal umbels as in E. tetralix-, the corolla of a deeper rosy red, shorter and broader. Seed-vessel comparatively glabrous (it is downy in E. tetralix). The only homes of this heath in the British Isles are near Roundstone (Co. Galway), where it was discovered by W. M’Alla in 1833, and in W. Donegal. It is also found in N.W. Spain, where it is equally rare and local. A pretty dwarf heath, useful for planting in broad patches as recommended for its allies.

From the Supplement (Vol. V)

[E. × praegeri] – From a reversion shoot on ‘Stuartii’ which occurred in a Dutch nursery, it has been established that this clone has the same parentage as E. × praegeri, i.e., E. mackaiana × E. tetralix. However, ‘Stuartii’ was given botanical status by E. F. Linton ten years before the publication of the name E. × praegeri, and thus E. × stuartii E. F. Linton becomes the valid name for hybrids between E. mackaiana and E. tetralix. The clone ‘Stuartii’ has been renamed ‘Charles Stuart’ and the original clone of E. × praegeri becomes E. × stuartii ‘Connemara’.

'Plena'

A double-flowered form discovered in W. Galway. The urn-shaped corolla is rather wider at the mouth than in the type, and encloses several small, closely packed petals which have replaced the stamens. Superior to the type in lasting longer in flower (E. m. flore pleno; E. crawfurdii).E. × praegeri Ostenfeld – This is the group-name for hybrids between E. mackaiana and E. tetralix. These occur where the two species are in contact in the wild and have tended to obscure the distinctiveness of the former. A form of this hybrid is usually listed as a cultivar of E. tetralix. It is a dwarf plant with pink flowers.E. ‘Stuartii’. – This heath, collected in W. Galway in 1890, is regarded by some authorities as a hybrid between E. mackaiana and E. mediterranea but this attribution is unlikely (Heather Soc. Y.B., 1965, pp. 12–13).

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