Erica Arborea

This is an evergreen shrub with erect, reddish bark and dark green needle-like leaves. It produces small, very fragrant, creamy-white pendulous flowers. Its ramifications used to be tied to make brushwood brooms, hence the old name “scopiglia”. The wood was also used to build the roofs and walls of poor people’s houses. In the past, its wood was baked to obtain a good coal for forging iron. Nowadays this plant provides a very good wood to make pipe stoves, while its flowers are used in the beekeeping and medical sectors.