WILD ROSEMARY 



Wild Rosemary (Andromeda polifolia, L.) 



Though not found there at the present day this typical bog plant 

 has been discovered in Late Glacial beds at Hailes and Corstorphine 

 near Edinburgh. At the present time it is found in the North 

 Temperate and Arctic Zones in Arctic and Alpine Europe (not in 

 Greece or in Turkey), Siberia, N. America. In Great Britain it is 

 found in N. Somerset, W. 

 Norfolk, Hunts, Stafford, 

 Salop, Glamorgan, Cardigan, 

 N. Wales, except in Mont- 

 gomery, Merioneth, and Angle- 

 sea; Derby; in the Mersey 

 province except Mid Lanes; 

 in the Humber province except 

 in S.E. and N.W. York, Nor- 

 thumberland; in the Lakes 

 province except in the Isle of 

 Man; in the E. Lowlands ex- 

 cept in Wigtown, Roxburgh, 

 W. Perth, Edinburgh, Stirling, 

 and Ebudes. It is local in 

 Ireland. 



Wild Rosemary is a bog 

 plant which is at home only in 

 those few tracts where peat 

 bogs still exist. It is owing to 

 drainage that they are becom- 

 ing more and more scarce year 



by year. Wild Rosemary is found in the same habitats as the Sun- 

 dew, Butterwort, Bladderwort, Bog Myrtle, and the Asphodels. 



The plant is an evergreen shrub, with a trailing, slender, leafy stem, 

 which is woody, and rooting at the base. The leaves are lance-shaped, 

 alternate, rolled back, 1 bluish-white beneath, smooth, and stalked. 



The flowers are in terminal clusters, drooping, pink, the flower- 

 stalks much longer than the flowers, which have 4 sepals, and a rounded 

 corolla with 5 lobes, turned back. The capsule is erect, with egg- 

 shaped seeds, which are made up of 5 lobes. The berries are edible. 



The plant is not usually more than, and usually much less than, 2 ft. 



1 This is an adaptation to the physiologically dry conditions, as in other heath plants, and to prevent 

 the stomata on the under side from being filled with water and so prevent respiration or breathing. 



Photo. A. R. Horwood 



WILD ROSEMARY (Andromeda polifolia, L.) 



