When you think of a blueberry what comes to mind? Do you imagine the tart flavor of the juice, tucked inside powdery blue skin? Or, perhaps you imagine a field thick with soft green leaves and blue fruit clusters ready to be picked. Yum!
Blueberries (Vaccinium sect. Cyanococcus) are a member of the family Ericaceae, a group of flowering plants known for their delicious berries, and their unique ability to thrive in nutrient poor, acidic soils. These plants are commonly called heaths or heathers and can be found in the heathland habitats that share their name. They can also be found in many other habitats across the globe including bogs, fens, boreal forests, and oak-heath forests.
An aside - I’d just like to point out that the Merriam-Webster dictionary’s first definition of the word heath is “a tract of wasteland” and I am deeply offended by this.
There are more than 4250 known heath species and their size and growth form can vary from herbs to shrubs to trees. Heath petals are often fused, creating a bell or tube-shaped flower and their leaves are usually evergreen. These leaves have evolved as an adaptation to the harsh growing conditions they grow in, helping them to conserve nutrients and energy. Many heaths have also developed mycorrhizal relationships with fungi, exchanging nutrients to stay alive in their harsh environments. There are even heaths that have evolved to be parasitic, but we’ll talk about these bad beauties in another post!
Some heaths, like blueberries, produce tasty fruits that are perfect for foraging or cultivating. Still, other heaths product toxins that make their parts inedible. However, even some of these heaths have historical uses in herbalism.
Not convinced that heaths are amazing and deserve love and respect? Check out 6 of my favorites found in the Adirondacks. You won't find blueberries listed here, but I assure you these heaths are just as (if not more) exciting!
Bog Laurel
Leathery leaves with in-rolled margins deceive the eye, causing some to believe this plant is a laurel. However, despite its appearance and name, bog laurel (Kalmia polifolia) is actually a member of the heath family, Ericaceae.
Called by a variety of names including bog laurel, swamp laurel, pale laurel, and bog Kalmia, this evergreen shrub is found throughout the northeast United States, including the Adirondacks. Bog laurel can also be found throughout Canada, and in the western United States one can find the similar, yet slightly less robust Kalmia species, K. microphylla. Bog laurel thrives in wet, acidic soils dominated by sphagnum moss.
The slender leaves of bog laurels are opposite and lance-shaped with a prominent vein running the length of it. These leaves are relatively short, measuring between 1 and 1.5 inches in length with whitish hairs running across the underside.
Like many other heaths, each flower of bog laurels consists of 5-lobed, fused petals shaped like a bowl. These flowers form in clusters of up to 13 individual flowers and sit atop thin stems. Each flower is pink, with ten white stamens with dark tips.
Large-bodied insects like bumblebees visit these flowers, triggering the stamen which then showers the unsuspecting visitor in pollen. This pollen is then carried to the next bog laurel, and that bog laurel’s pollen is carried to the next, resulting in cross-pollination. In June, the fruits of bog laurels start to develop, with each five-chambered capsule measuring about a quarter of an inch in diameter.
Sheep Laurel
Bog laurel’s (almost) identical twin, sheep laurel (Kalmia angustifolia) can be found in nearly all the same places throughout the northeastern United States, making identification tricky. Luckily, there are a few differences that can be easily spotted if you know what you’re looking for.
A small evergreen shrub, the leaves of sheep laurel are glossy and somewhat leathery. They are narrowly oval and flat, unlike bog laurel’s lance-shaped, in-rolled leaves. The leaves of sheep laurel are also longer than those of bog laurel, measuring between 1.5 and 2.5 inches in length.
Another important difference to distinguish sheep laurel is its flower placement. Unlike the flower clusters located at the tops of bog laurel’s stems, the pink flowers of sheep laurel are clustered a few inches from the top of the stem, encircling it, with newer leaves appearing directly above the flowers.
Sheep laurel also blooms later in the spring then bog laurel, with reports of the earliest Adirondack blooms appearing in mid-June with fruits developing in August.
Like other Kalmia species, sheep laurel is poisonous to mammals. It is foraged by grouse and other bird species and is an important larval food source for the Brown Elfin butterfly, the Northern Blue butterfly, and Columbia silkmoths.
Bog Rosemary
Alongside scrubby black spruce and tamaracks another bog-loving heath is found. Bog rosemary (Andromeda polifolia) is a small evergreen shrub that can be found throughout the northeastern United States, Canada, and looping down into Washington and Idaho. It is an obligate hydrophyte, meaning that it almost exclusively occurs in wetland areas. Most commonly, bog rosemary can be found in the acidic soils of sphagnum moss dominated ombrotrophic peat bogs.
As its name suggests, bog rosemary looks similar to the rosemary (Salvia rosmarinus) many of us keep in our gardens. However, these species are not related, and bog rosemary can be quite toxic to eat so I wouldn’t suggest using it to flavor any soups or garnish any dishes!
Bog rosemary’s thin, alternate leaves are in-rolled and measure about ¼ inch wide and 2 inches long. It’s bell-shaped flowers hang in pale pink clusters at the end of its branches. These flowers make their appearance briefly in spring and lucky bog-goers might be fortunate enough to see them between late May and early June.
Fruits usually begin to develop in early July. These fruits are round and contain 5 segments and each fruit can contain between 1 and 44 seeds. Despite the potential for a large number of seeds, seedling establishment is infrequent. Seed distribution is, however, an important element in new establishment of bog rosemary in disturbed areas. Primarily, bog rosemary regenerates through rhizome growth.
Bog rosemary is monoecious, meaning that both female and male flowers grow on the same plant. It is highly self-fertile, however, insect pollination is important for higher numbers of seed-bearing fruits and the plant is visited by bumblebees, syrphid flies, and butterflies.
Leatherleaf
Leatherleaf is an evergreen heath native to the northeastern United States and Canada. It can reach up to 3 feet high and is a wetland obligate in most areas of its range.
Like many other heaths, leatherleaf produces bell-shaped flowers that hang from its stems. These flowers are white, nodding, and about ¼ inch long. Its leaves area alternate and oval, with a leathery texture. Each leaf is finely toothed with brown scales on the underside. These leaves typically decrease in size from the center of the plant to the tips of its stems. It can form dense thickets, with older branches turning gray overtime.
The fruit of leatherleaf develops in August. These start as reddish capsules and eventually turn brown, staying on the plant through winter. The twigs and bark of the plant are eaten by eastern cottontails and snowshoe hares and deer and moose rely on leatherleaf for winter browsing. Leatherleaf is an important host plant for the brown elfin butterfly, and several bird species rely on it for nesting cover.
Labrador Tea
Aromatic in-rolled leaves with soft, wooly undersides are a signature feature of labrador tea (Rhododendron groenlandicum). Found in the northern United States and into Canada, this evergreen heath can be found in bogs, swamps, wet conifer forests, and alpine summits. It is a wetland obligate in some of its range.
The leathery upper-side of its leaves are deep green in color with a prominent vein running from stem to tip. The fuzzy underside of mature leaves are a coppery color, while young leaves have soft white hairs. The leaves are alternate and measure between 1 and 2 ¼ inches in length.
In late spring clusters of white flowers appear at the ends of stems with between 10 to 40 flowers developing in each cluster. Each flower is aromatic and sticky with 5 white petals and 5 to 10 stamens. Long, fuzzy fruits mature in late summer, eventually splitting into 5 parts.
Labrador tea is predominantly pollinated by bumblebees and the flowers provide nectar to some species of butterflies. It also serves as a larval host for the northern blue butterfly (Lycaeides idas).
There are hundreds more heaths out there, and at least 47 more in the Adirondacks alone. Which is your favorite?