Six-coordinated heme groups are involved in a large variety of electron transfer reactions because of their ability to exist in both the ferrous (Fe 2+ ) and ferric (Fe 3+ ) state without any large differences in structure. Our studies on hemes coordinated by two histidines (bis-His) and hemes coordinated by histidine and methionine (His-Met) will be reviewed. In both of these coordination environments, the heme core can exhibit ferric low spin EPR signals with large g max values (also called type I, highly anisotropic low spin, or highly axial low spin, HALS species) as well as rhombic EPR (type II) signals. In bis-His coordinated hemes rhombic and HALS envelopes are related to the orientation of the His groups with respect to each other such that (i) parallel His planes results in a rhombic signal and (ii) perpendicular His planes results in a HALS signal. Correlation between the structure of the heme and its ligands for heme with His-Met axial ligation and ligand-field parameters, as derived from a large series of cytochrome c variants, show, however, that for such a combination of axial ligandsthere is no clear-cut difference between the large g max and the "small g-anisotropy" cases as a result of the relative Met-His arrangements. Nonetheless, a new linear correlation links the average shift <δ> of the heme methyl groups with the g max values.