Tree heather, also known by the common name of 'briar root', is an evergreen bush or small tree commonly found in the Mediterranean and very widespread on this island. Its height varies from one to seven metres, shorter in more isolated and drier locations and taller particularly in the cooler high maquis woodlands of the northern slopes, where it competes with arbutus and holm oaks.
It has a sturdy trunk with reddish bark, typically thicker at the base (or 'butt'), forming the briar block used to make smoking pipes. Its numerous opposite branches have an upright posture and are 'pubescent' at the ends, meaning they are covered with small hairs. The branches form a dense foliage with a feathery appearance due to the many small leaves. These are tiny and narrow, 4-8 mm long, and clustered in small groups (or 'whorls') of three or four.
It has numerous small, bell-shaped white or pale pink flowers which bloom from the end of winter to the start of spring in broad, pyramid-shaped spikes. The species is widespread in the 'Lauretum' and 'Castanetum' maquis, preferring cooler and shadier locations but also adapting very well to drier and southern ones, generally favouring siliceous terrain, in the company of arbutus, rockrose and broom.
Its preference for acidic soil makes it one of the species most successful in establishing themselves on the challenging terrain subject to mining activities on eastern Elba. It is a pyrophyte species, able to regenerate after a fire by forming numerous shoots on its stump, particularly after the first autumn rains.
On these slopes, it is often seen accompanied by the less widespread green heather (Erica scoparia), a considerably shorter bushy shrub that grows to a maximum height of two metres, with upright but hairless branches, sparser little leaves along its dark brown branches and small, greenish and therefore less noticeable flowers. The Archipelago, and specifically the islands of Giglio and Giannutri, is also home to Erica multiflora, a bush around one and a half metres tall with a distinctive bright pink colour.
(Antonello Marchese, translation from Italian)
