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Large evergreen shrub of the Ericaceae family, whose natural origin area is fragmented and disjointed: Iberian Peninsula, Lebanon, Turkey, and Pontic regions of the Caucasus. In these territories, it occupies humid forests and scrublands, shaded ravines, and slopes exposed to fogs, on acidic soils.
It forms a very vigorous shrub, with a broadly spreading habit and dense dome, reaching 3 to 5 meters in height, or even more in suitable conditions. The leaves are large, lanceolate, leathery, and shiny, of a dark persistent green, grouped in characteristic terminal rosettes.
The flowers are gathered in large dense and rounded corymbs, from lilac-pink to deep purple-violet, slightly spotted with brown-green dots inside the upper lobes. In its natural habitat, flowering extends from May to June. In cultivation, it occurs at the same period.
Its history in Western Europe is inseparable from its invasive behavior, particularly marked in Great Britain and Ireland, where it was widely planted in the 19th century as rootstock and windbreak before massively colonizing acidic moors and undergrowth, impoverishing the native flora. It is today classified as a concerning invasive species in several European countries.
It thrives in any acidic, fresh, and humus-rich soil, in shade or full sun. Its hardiness and vigor are remarkable, but its size requires large spaces and monitoring of its spread.