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Blue Heath

Blue Heath

Phyllodoce caerulea

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How common: Common

Blue Heath is a low, evergreen mountain shrub of the far north. It forms small, upright tufts with needle‑like leaves and drooping purple‑blue flowers. You’ll see it on open, windswept heaths and sometimes in dry northern woods.

Did you know?

  • It often grows where snow lies deep and can keep making food under the snow.
  • Flower color usually shifts from reddish purple to more bluish with age; rare plants are creamy white.

About the species

Identification

Low evergreen shrub, 10–15 cm tall, with many short upright branches. Leaves 6–12 mm, narrow and needle‑like; edges rolled under and a pale line on the underside; they stay green through winter. Flowers hang on long stalks in small clusters (2–5) at branch tips; small pot‑shaped bells, purple to blue‑violet, sometimes creamy white. Later it has small upright brown capsules, not berries. Without flowers it can be confused with crowberry; during bloom the hanging purple‑blue bells set it apart. Flowers in Finland in June–July.

Plant group

Dwarf shrubs

Habitat

fell

Flowering

May–Jul

About the habitat

Open arctic and subarctic heaths on mountains and high ground; sometimes in dry, open birch or pine woods. From northern Ostrobothnia northwards; common in Käsivarsi and Inari Lapland, rare elsewhere in Lapland, chiefly on fell areas.

Sources

Photo: Marios Thoma, CC BY 4.0 https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/6400189303

Text: Pinkka: Suomen puuvartiset - Koppisiemeniset. Lähteet: Väre, H., Saarinen, J., Kurtto, A. & Hämet-Ahti, L. (toim.) 2021: Suomen puu- ja pensaskasvio. 3. täysin uudistettu p. – Publications of the Finnish Dendrological Society 10: 1–552 s., CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.38609

Text: Pinkka: BIO-503 Suomen kasvisto ja kasvillisuus - Tunturit: tunturikoivikot, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.38609

Text: Pinkka: IPS-153 Flora of Subarctic Europe - Nardus-Pyrola, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.38609

Text: Pinkka: Kasvien talvi - Talvivihreät luonnonkasvit, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.38609

Text: Wikipedia (Finnish), CC BY-SA 4.0 https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurjenkanerva

See also