Low-growing shrub. Leaves mostly about 5 mm long in groups of 3, the margins bent back. Flowers red to pink.
W Europe
A species that is the source of numerous colour cultivars although only a few of these are grown in Australia including: 'Christina McDonald' Foliage dark, flowers red in spring and summer; 'Eden Valley' Flowers lavender, white tipped; 'Golden Drop' Small, wiry, mat-forming shrub with rich golden foliage in summer turning rusty red in winter. Flowers lilac-pink in summer; 'Golden Hue' Foliage pale yellow; 'Katinka' Foliage dark, flowers deep red; 'Purple Beauty' Foliage deep green, flowers purple.
Source: (1997). Ericaceae. In: . Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 2. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 1. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.
