Nature · Wildflowers & flowers

Heather

Flowers August to October

Calluna vulgaris — Ericaceae

Heather, or ling, is the dwarf shrub that colours moorland purple in late summer and gives the British uplands their character, along with the grouse shooting and muirburn that maintain them. It is the only species in its genus, its scientific name recording its use for brooms, and its honey is the most prized and the most awkward in Britain. It is the county flower of Staffordshire.

How to spot them

▸A low woody shrub with tough wiry stems and tiny scale-like leaves in four opposite rows
▸Spikes of many small, pale purple-pink bells, each about 4 mm, with the sepals longer than the petals
▸Flowers August to October — later than the other British moorland heaths
▸Acid peat and sandy soils: heathland, moorland, bog margins and open pine woodland
▸Turns rust-brown in winter, and grows in even-aged stands after burning

How to know it

A low wiry shrub with tiny scale-like leaves in four rows, carrying spikes of small pale purple bells in late summer

Heather, or ling — Calluna vulgaris.

Its genus name comes from the Greek for 'to sweep', because the stems were bound into brooms

Calluna, from kallunein — heather, also called ling.

The only species in its genus, and the plant that makes British moorland purple in August

Calluna vulgaris — heather.

Its dark, jelly-like honey has to be pressed rather than spun from the comb, because it is thixotropic

Heather honey — from Calluna vulgaris.

County flower of Staffordshire; a white-flowered sprig of it is a Scottish charm against misfortune

Heather.

Moorland is burned in rotation to regenerate young growth of this plant for red grouse

Heather — muirburn.

Called ling, from the Old Norse lyng, it supplied fuel, thatch, rope, bedding, orange dye and an ale

Heather — Calluna vulgaris.

Quick-fire facts

•Family Ericaceae; Calluna vulgaris is the only species in the genus Calluna
•Calluna comes from Greek kallunein, to brush or sweep clean, because the twigs were made into besoms; the Wildlife Trusts note the same derivation
•'Ling' derives from Old Norse lyng
•County flower of Staffordshire in Plantlife's 2002 County Flowers survey
•Heather honey is thixotropic — a gel until stirred — so it must be pressed from the comb rather than extracted by centrifuge
•Bell heather, Erica cinerea, has larger bell-shaped flowers and leaves in whorls of three; cross-leaved heath, Erica tetralix, has leaves in whorls of four and nodding pink heads in wet ground
•Managed by rotational burning (muirburn) on grouse moors to produce young shoots for red grouse
•Historically used for fuel, thatch, bedding, rope, brooms, orange dye and heather ale

Drill it — 8 cards

1 / 8new card

Sources

The Wildlife Trusts — Heather