Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Email
Answers.com

tree heath

 
Dictionary: tree heath
 

n.

A Mediterranean evergreen shrub or small tree (Erica arborea) having fragrant white flowers grouped in large terminal panicles. It is the source of briarroot.


Search unanswered questions...
Enter a word or phrase...
All Community Q&A Reference topics
 
WordNet: tree heath
Top
Note: click on a word meaning below to see its connections and related words.

The noun has 2 meanings:

Meaning #1: gaunt Tasmanian evergreen shrubby tree with slender tapering leaves 3 to 5 feet long
  Synonyms: grass tree, Richea pandanifolia

Meaning #2: evergreen treelike Mediterranean shrub having fragrant white flowers in large terminal panicles and hard woody roots used to make tobacco pipes
  Synonyms: briar, brier, Erica arborea


 
Wikipedia: Erica arborea
Top
Tree heath

Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Asterids
Order: Ericales
Family: Ericaceae
Genus: Erica
Species: E. arborea
Binomial name
Erica arborea
L.

The tree heath (Erica arborea) is a shrub or small evergreen tree with a typical height of 1-4m, with some specimens reaching 7m. The numerous small flowers are white. The tree heath prefers acid soil. It is found mostly in the Macchia, dry evergreen shrublands, all around the Mediterranean region, west to Portugal and the Canary and Madeira Islands, and with disjunct areas in Africa including the Ethiopian Highlands, the mountains of Ruwenzori and the Cameroon mountains.

The wood is used for making smoking pipes, and is known as briar root wood, bruyère, or French brier.

Other tall growing heaths, including the Portugal Heath (Erica lusitanica) may also sometimes be called tree heath.

Gallery

References

  • Adams, W.M., A.S. Goudie & A. R. Orme (eds.) (1996): The Physical Geography of Africa. Page 55. Oxford University Press, 1996.



 
 

 

Copyrights:

Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
WordNet. WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Erica arborea" Read more