Thomas Pennant wrote in A Tour in Scotland (1769) that on the Scottish island of Islay 'ale is frequently made of the young tops of heath, mixing two thirds of that plant with one of malt, sometimes adding hops'. With malt, heather is an ingredient in gruit, a mixture of flavourings used in the brewing of heather-beer during the Middle Ages before the use of hops.

The larvae of a number of Lepidoptera species also feed on the plant, notably the small emperor moth Saturnia pavonia.įormerly heather was used to dye wool yellow and to tan leather. Both adult and larva of the heather beetle ( Lochmaea suturalis) feed on it, and can cause extensive mortality in some instances. Willow grouse and red grouse feed on the young shoots and seeds of this plant. Heather is an important food source for various sheep and deer which can graze the tips of the plants when snow covers low-growing vegetation. The following cultivars have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit: Some forms are grown for distinctive young spring foliage. Many of the ornamental foliage forms change colour with the onset of winter weather, usually increasing in intensity of colour. Cultivars with ornamental foliage are usually selected for reddish and golden leaf colour. The flowers may turn brown but still remain on the plants over winter, and this can lead to interesting decorative effects. The flowering season with different cultivars extends from late July to November in the northern hemisphere. ĭifferent cultivars have flower colours ranging from white, through pink and a wide range of purples, and including reds. There are many named cultivars, selected for variation in flower colour and for different foliage colour and growing habits. Heather beetles have been released to stop the heather, with preliminary trials successful to date.

The plant was introduced to New Zealand and has become an invasive weed in some areas, notably the Tongariro National Park in the North Island and the Wilderness Reserve (Te Anau) in the South Island, overgrowing native plants. It is extremely cold- hardy, surviving severe exposure and freezing conditions well below −20 ☌ (−4 ☏). It has been introduced into many other places worldwide with suitable climates, including North America, Australia, New Zealand and the Falkland Islands. Calluna is differentiated from Erica by its corolla and calyx each being in four parts instead of five.Ĭalluna vulgaris is native to Europe, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, and the Azores. The specific epithet vulgaris is Latin for 'common'. Taxonomy Ĭalluna was separated from the closely related genus Erica by Richard Anthony Salisbury, who devised the generic name Calluna probably from the Ancient Greek Kallyno ( καλλύνω), 'beautify, sweep clean', in reference to its traditional use in besoms. elucidate the mechanism of activity that results in the loss of the parasite's flagellum, leading to reduced infectivity, because the flagellum is crucial to anchoring in the insect gut. The nectar of Calluna vulgaris contains a megastigmane, callunene, that is inhibitory at naturally occurring concentrations to a common trypanosome parasite of bumble bees, Crithidia bombi. Phenolic compounds in the shoots of Calluna vulgaris include chlorogenic acid and a novel phenolic glycoside, most of which are found in greater number during the summer.

Calluna is sometimes referred to as Summer (or Autumn) heather to distinguish it from winter or spring flowering species of Erica. Unlike Erica, Calluna sometimes sports double flowers. They are terminal in racemes with sepal-like bracts at the base with a superior ovary, the fruit a capsule. : 231 In wild plants these are normally mauve, but white-flowered plants also occur occasionally. It is tolerant of grazing and regenerates following occasional burning, and is often managed in nature reserves and grouse moors by sheep or cattle grazing, and also by light burning.Ĭalluna has small-scale leaves (less than 2–3 mm long) borne in opposite and decussate pairs, whereas those of Erica are generally larger and in whorls of 3–4, sometimes 5. It is the dominant plant in most heathland and moorland in Europe, and in some bog vegetation and acidic pine and oak woodland. It is a low-growing evergreen shrub growing to 20 to 50 centimetres (8 to 20 in) tall, or rarely to 1 metre (40 in) and taller, and is found widely in Europe and Asia Minor on acidic soils in open sunny situations and in moderate shade. Calluna vulgaris, common heather, ling, or simply heather, is the sole species in the genus Calluna in the flowering plant family Ericaceae.

Dutch broom plant