Phyllodoce caerulea - blue heath
In addition to blue heath, there are about twenty other species in the Phyllodoce genus, growing in North America and Eurasia. Blue heath is a low spreading sub-shrub, growing naturally in Finland, particularly north of Kuusamo. The leaves are narrow, leathery and evergreen. The flowers, borne in pairs on longish stalks, are barrel- or bell-shaped, nodding at the stem tips. Blue heath avoids the most exposed, windiest situations. It is commonly found in the wild together with the somewhat similar-looking crowberry (Empetrum).