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Heath family (Ericaceae)
Prostrate dwarf shrub; evergreen. Stems creeping, thin, up to 1 m long. Leaves leathery, oval-shaped, of dimensions 4-12 x 3-5 mm. Leaves dark green and shiny above, ash-grey beneath. Flowers suspended, 1-4 growing at ends of branches, on stalks up to 3.5 cm long. Quadripartite perianth. Petals crimson and pink, up to 7 mm long, fused at base, and lanceolate. Berry-fruit of 8-14 mm diameter, red, spherical, very sour, but highly edible. Flowers Jun.-Aug.
Grows on wet, very nutrient-poor soils, e.g. on raised bogs and transitional peatlands, and in marshy pine forest. A medicinal herb.
Descriptions devised by the team at the Independent Department of Forest Botany, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, i.e. L. Witkowska-Żuk, K. Marciszewska, W. Ciurzycki, A. Obidziński and P. Zaniewski.
