Ceratiola ericoides

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Ceratiola ericoides
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae Division: Magnoliophyta Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Ericales Family: Ericaceae Genus: Ceratiola Species: C. ericoides
Binomial name
Ceratiola ericoides Michx.

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.

[edit] External link

• Gsrcorp factsheet (with photos)