Ceratiola
| Ceratiola ericoides | |
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| Species: | C. ericoides
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| Ceratiola ericoides | |
The Sandhill-rosemary, Florida-rosemary or Sand heath, Ceratiola ericoides, is a shrub usually included in the plant family Ericaceae, though treated by some botanists in the Empetraceae.
It is native to infertile, dry sandy sites in the coastal southeast United States, in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi and South Carolina. It commonly occurs together with Sand pine and/or species of oak. Like Sand pine, it is adapted to regenerate by seed after periodic forest fires.
Its habitat is important for the endangered Florida Sand Skink in central Florida.
The name derives from the species' superficial similarity to the unrelated European shrub Rosemary, familiar for its leaves used as a herb. Florida-rosemary is not however edible.
External links
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