Cross-leaved Heath

Common Name: Cross-leaved Heath

Latin Name: Erica tetralix

Family: Ericaceae (Heather family)

The cross-leaved heath is a close relative of the bell heather and it was the source of a yellow dye for textiles. It is a straggly shrub, with greyish leaves in whorls of four at each node and pink oval flowers in June to September.

It grows on wet heaths and bogs on suitable habitats throughout the British Isles. In the Yorkshire Dales National Park cross-leaved heath is frequent on acidic flushes, bog and peaty moorland habitats above 400m, often growing alongside Sphagnum mosses.