Portuguese Heath

BUSH INVADER

Erica lusitanica

family: ERICACEAE

Description

  • Erect woody fast-growing evergreen shrub with hairy stems and brittle roots from SW Europe. Also called Spanish Heath.
  • Leaves are tiny (3 to 7mm long), pointed, mid-green, and clustered densely on the stem.
  • Flowers are profuse, small, papery, fragrant and bell-shaped, pink in bud, opening white. These flowers rattle softly when shaken. They appear from late autumn to early spring.
  • Each flower produces numerous tiny seeds.
  • This plant is often mistaken for a native. Native Epacris flowers have five petals; Portuguese Heath has four.

Dispersal

Seeds are spread by wind, water and gravity, and in mud on boots and tyres. This plant also layers and shoots from stems and roots.

Impact on Bushland

Follows watercourses and invades sensitive ecosystems; seeds, layers and suckers to form dense stands; its mass of fine matted roots crowds out natives; it replaces creekline vegetation.

Distribution

Upper Blue Mountains.

Alternative Planting

Native heath plants for native birds: eg, Epacris longiflora, E. reclinata; Correas (Correa reflexa, C. alba); Woolly Tea Tree (Leptospermum lanigerum).

Diosma (Coleonema pulchrum).

Control

Bag flowers and seed heads; pull small seedlings by hand; cut and paint larger plants.

Portuguese Heath forms dense stands in damp areas.

Portuguese Heath forms dense stands in damp areas.

Flowers are pink in the bud, and open white.

Flowers are pink in the bud, and open white.