Calluna vulgaris Scotch Heather

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Calluna vulgaris Scotch Heather

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Heather Characteristics

• Ericaceae family
• Leaves opposite, simple, evergreen and scale
  like
• Size 4-24 spread is 2 or more
• Hardiness zone 4 to 6(7)
• Upright branching, small evergreen ground cover
  with dense leafy branches that form a mat look

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Characteristics cont..

• Flowers perfect, rosy to purplish pink
• Leaf color medium green in summer, green to
  bronze in winter
• Slow grower
• Prefers full sun to partial shade

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Characteristics cont

• Native to Europe, and is found all over the moors
  of Scotland and Northern England
• Many cultivars and has been cultivated for
  centuries
• They flower in late summer and early autumn

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Heather uses

• Brides like to carry a sprig in their bouquets to
  bring good luck
• Brides love to wear it in their hair on their
  wedding day
• A sprig is often buried with the dead to bring
  good luck in the after life
• Soldiers wore a bit in their hats for good luck
• Pioneers packed sprigs and seed when they came to
  North America

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Heather Clans

• MacDonald
• MacAlliser
• Macdonnell
• Shaw
• MacIntyre
• Farquharson

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Heather uses cont

• Tea
• Medicinal uses best for urinary infections
• Branches are used for thatching, bedding or
  stuffing for mattresses, insulation, basketry,
  brooms
• Yellow dye

• Dried branches are good for fuel
• Bark is a good source of tannin
• Landscapes- personal or wild in the moors

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Sources

• www.scottishshop.com
• www.ibiblio.org
• www.toyen.uio.no/botanisk,nbf/planetfoto/calluna_v
  ulgaris_Trond.com
• www.biodiversity.org
• Manual of Woody Landscape Plants by Michael Dirr