White flowers; V–VI; foliage bright green; habit bushy, upright shrub; height 31–45cm; spread 31–45cm. Dr Maria Isabel Fraga Vila (Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain) sent seed from a white-flowered plant in June 1983 to Denbeigh Heathers (Creeting St Mary, Ipswich), and one of the seedlings raised also had white flowers. Named after the then Administrator of The Heather Society, Anne Small, to mark her contribution to the work of The Heather Society. Registered 11 September 1999: The Heather Society.
Erica umbellata : dwarf Spanish heath
Low bushy shrub, to 0.6m tall, shoots upright, slender; leaves in whorls of 3, small, to 4mm long; 3–6 flowers in terminal umbels; calyx of 4, ± separate, unequal, green sepals; corolla to 5mm long, top- or urn-shaped, pink, very rarely white; stamens 8, emergent; anthers without spurs.
Blooms late winter to summer
This heath occurs wild in Spain, Portugal and northern Morocco. It is a very useful species because in gardens it bridges the ‘June gap’ between the spring-blooming and later summer-blooming heathers. It requires well-drained soil that need not be lime-free. Suitable for zone 8.
There are only two named cultivars.
‘David Small’ (f. umbellata)
Vivid deep heliotrope (H12) flowers; V–VI; foliage dark green; habit bushy, upright shrub; height 31–45cm; spread 46–60cm. Outstanding. Collected at Cabo Villano (La Coruña, Spain) by David McClintock, Dr Charles Nelson and David Small in 1982. Registered 11 September 1999: The Heather Society.
Erica umbellata
Mauve (H2) flowers, IV–VI, with conspicuous dark brown exserted anthers; grey-green foliage; height 31–45cm; spread 46–60cm. Outstanding.
Named from umbellatus = umbellate (i.e. flowers in an umbel).