Calluna

{{Speciesbox

|image = CallunaVulgaris.jpg

|image_caption = Flowering Calluna vulgaris

|display_parents = 3

|genus = Calluna

|parent_authority = Salisb.

|species = vulgaris

|authority = (L.) Hull

}}

Calluna vulgaris, common heather, ling, or simply heather,{{cite web|last=Matveev|first=Vladimir|url=http://www.biology-online.org/dictionary/Ling|title=Ling – definition from|publisher=Biology-Online.org|access-date=2010-01-27}} is the sole species in the genus Calluna in the flowering plant family Ericaceae. It is a low-growing evergreen shrub growing to {{convert|20|to|50|cm|in|0}} tall, or rarely to {{convert|1|m|in|-1}} and taller,{{cite book |last=Coats |first=Alice M. |author-link= |date=1964 |title=British Shrubs and Their Histories |edition=1992 |location=London, England, UK |publisher=London Press |page=45 |quote=In favorable conditions, old plants can grow to the height of a man, and have hidden many a fugitive}} and is found widely in Europe and Asia Minor on acidic soils in open sunny situations and in moderate shade.

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 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.

Description

Calluna can reach {{Convert|60|cm}} in height.{{Cite book |last=Francis-Baker |first=Tiffany |title=Concise Foraging Guide |date=2021 |publisher=Bloomsbury |isbn=978-1-4729-8474-6 |series=The Wildlife Trusts |location=London |pages=45}} It 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.Clive Stace, (2010) New Flora of the British Isles, 3rd edition. Cambridge University Press. It flowers from July to September.{{cite book |author=A.R. Clapham |author2=T. G. Tutin |author3=E. F. Warburg |date=1981 |title=Excursion Flora of the British Isles |publisher=Cambridge University Press |edition=3 |isbn=0-521-23290-2}}{{rp|231}} In wild plants these are normally mauve, but white-flowered plants also occur occasionally. They are terminal in racemes with sepal-like bracts at the base with a superior ovary, the fruit a capsule.Parnell, P. and Curtis, T. 2012. Webb's An Irish Flora. Cork University Press {{ISBN|978-185918-4783}} Unlike Erica, Calluna sometimes sports double flowers. Calluna is sometimes referred to as Summer (or Autumn) heather to distinguish it from winter or spring flowering species of Erica.{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}}

= Chemistry =

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.{{cite journal |author=Mahbubul, A.F. Jalal |author2=David J. Read |author3=E. Haslam |author3-link=Edwin Haslam |year=1982 |title=Phenolic composition and its seasonal variation in Calluna vulgaris |journal=Phytochemistry |volume=21 |issue=6 |pages=1397–1401 |doi=10.1016/0031-9422(82)80150-7|bibcode=1982PChem..21.1397J }}

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. Koch et al. 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.{{cite journal |author=Koch, H. |author2=Woodward, J. |author3=Langat, M. |author4=Brown. M.J.F. |author5=Stevenson P.C. |date=2019 |title=Flagellum Removal by a Nectar Metabolite Inhibits Infectivity of a Bumblebee Parasite |journal=Current Biology |volume=29 |issue=20 |pages=3494–3500 |doi=10.1016/j.cub.2019.08.037 |pmid=31607528 |doi-access=free|bibcode=2019CBio...29E3494K }}

Taxonomy

Calluna was separated from the closely related genus Erica by Richard Anthony Salisbury, who devised the generic name Calluna probably from the Ancient Greek {{lang|grc|Kallyno}} ([καλλύνω]), "beautify, sweep clean", in reference to its traditional use in besoms. The specific epithet vulgaris is Latin for 'common'. Calluna is differentiated from Erica by its corolla and calyx each being in four parts instead of five.

Distribution and habitat

Calluna vulgaris is native to Europe, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, and the Azores.{{cite web |title=Calluna vulgaris (L.) Hull |url=https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:327305-1 |access-date=15 March 2023 |publisher=Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew}} It has been introduced into many other places worldwide with suitable climates, including North America, Australia, New Zealand and the Falkland Islands.{{cite web |title=Countries (or multi-country features) with distribution records for Calluna vulgaris in the Global Invasive Species Database. |url=http://issg.org/database/species/distribution.asp?si=1623&fr=1&sts=&lang=EN |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170105235649/http://issg.org/database/species/distribution.asp?si=1623&fr=1&sts=&lang=EN |archive-date=2017-01-05 |access-date=2016-02-28 |publisher=Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG) of the IUCN Species Survival Commission.}} It is extremely cold-hardy, surviving severe exposure and freezing conditions well below {{convert|-20|C|F|abbr=on}}.{{cite web | url = https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/2712/Calluna-vulgaris/Details | title = Calluna vulgaris | publisher = RHS | access-date = 12 April 2020}}

Ecology

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. Willow grouse and red grouse feed on the young shoots and seeds of this plant.Moss R & Parkinson J (1972) The digestion of heather (Culluna vulgaris) by red grouse (Lagopus lagopus scoticus) Br.J.Nutr. 27, 285–296 Both adult and larva of the heather beetle (Lochmaea suturalis) feed on it, and can cause extensive mortality in some instances. The larvae of a number of Lepidoptera species also feed on the plant, notably the small emperor moth Saturnia pavonia.

= As an invasive species =

The plant was introduced to New Zealand and has become an invasive weed in some areas, notably the Tongariro National Park and Mount Ruapehu in the North Island, as well as the Wilderness Reserve (Te Anau) in the South Island, overgrowing native plants. Heather beetles have been released to stop the heather, with preliminary trials successful to date.{{cite web |author1=Simon Fowler |date=June 2001 |title=Biocontrol News and Information - Heather Beetle: from Doom to Boom? |url=http://cabweb.org/Journals/BNI/Bni22-2/Gennews.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160907182154/http://cabweb.org/Journals/BNI/Bni22-2/Gennews.htm |archive-date=2016-09-07 |access-date=18 July 2022 |website=PEST CABWeb |publisher=CABI}}{{Cite web |title=Heather beetle |url=https://www.landcareresearch.co.nz/discover-our-research/biodiversity-biosecurity/weed-biocontrol/projects-agents/biocontrol-agents/heather-beetle/ |access-date=2024-11-02 |website=Manaaki Whenua |language=en-US}}

Cultivars

There are many named cultivars, selected for variation in flower colour and for different foliage colour and growing habits.{{cite web |title=RHS - Find a plant |url=https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/search-results?form-mode=true&query=Calluna%20vulgaris&isAgm=true&pageSize=20&startFrom=20 |website=rhs.org.uk |publisher=The Royal Horticultural Society |access-date=8 March 2022}}

Different cultivars have flower colours ranging from white, through pink and a wide range of purples, and including reds. The flowering season with different cultivars extends from late July to November in the northern hemisphere. The flowers may turn brown but still remain on the plants over winter, and this can lead to interesting decorative effects. Cultivars with ornamental foliage are usually selected for reddish and golden leaf colour. A few forms can be silvery grey. Many of the ornamental foliage forms change colour with the onset of winter weather, usually increasing in intensity of colour. Some forms are grown for distinctive young spring foliage.{{cite web |title=Calluna Subcategories |url=https://www.heatherworld.org/category/heathers/calluna-heathers/ |website=heatherworld.org |publisher=Heather World |access-date=8 March 2022}}

The following cultivars have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit:

'Alicia' (Garden Girls series){{cite web | url = https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/112721/Calluna-vulgaris-Alicia-(PBR)-(Garden-Girls-Series)/Details | title = Calluna vulgaris 'Alicia' (Garden Girls Series) | publisher = RHS | access-date = 12 April 2020}}
'Annemarie' {{cite web | url = https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/92106/Calluna-vulgaris-Annemarie-(d)/Details

| title = Calluna vulgaris 'Annemarie' | publisher = RHS | access-date = 12 April 2020}}

'Beoley Gold'{{cite web | url = https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/94178/Calluna-vulgaris-Beoley-Gold/Details

| title = Calluna vulgaris 'Beoley Gold' | publisher = RHS | access-date = 12 April 2020}}

'County Wicklow'{{cite web | url = https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/98648/Calluna-vulgaris-County-Wicklow-(d)/Details

| title = Calluna vulgaris 'County Wicklow' | publisher = RHS | access-date = 12 April 2020}}

'Dark Beauty'{{cite web | url = https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/96457/Calluna-vulgaris-Dark-Beauty-(PBR)-(d)/Details

| title = Calluna vulgaris 'Dark Beauty' | publisher = RHS | access-date = 12 April 2020}}

'Dark Star'{{cite web | url = https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/97679/Calluna-vulgaris-Dark-Star-(d)/Details

| title = Calluna vulgaris 'Dark Star' | publisher = RHS | access-date = 12 April 2020}}

'Darkness' {{cite web | url = https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/97680/Calluna-vulgaris-Darkness/Details

| title = Calluna vulgaris 'Darkness' | publisher = RHS | access-date = 12 April 2020}}

'Elsie Purnell'{{cite web | url = https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/97561/Calluna-vulgaris-Elsie-Purnell-(d)/Details

| title = Calluna vulgaris 'Elsie Purnell' | publisher = RHS | access-date = 12 April 2020}}

'Firefly'{{cite web | url = https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/98128/Calluna-vulgaris-Firefly/Details

| title = Calluna vulgaris 'Firefly' | publisher = RHS | access-date = 12 April 2020}}

'Kerstin' {{cite web | url = https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/95684/Calluna-vulgaris-Kerstin/Details

| title = Calluna vulgaris 'Kerstin' | publisher = RHS | access-date = 12 April 2020}}

'Kinlochruel' {{cite web | url = https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/95685/Calluna-vulgaris-Kinlochruel-(d)/Details

| title = Calluna vulgaris 'Kinlochruel' | publisher = RHS | access-date = 12 April 2020}}

'Peter Sparkes'{{cite web | url = https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/89076/Calluna-vulgaris-Peter-Sparkes-(d)/Details

| title = Calluna vulgaris 'Peter Sparkes' | publisher = RHS | access-date = 12 April 2020}}

'Robert Chapman' {{cite web | url = https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/90894/Calluna-vulgaris-Robert-Chapman/Details

| title = Calluna vulgaris 'Robert Chapman' | publisher = RHS | access-date = 12 April 2020}}

'Silver Queen'{{cite web | url = https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/89504/Calluna-vulgaris-Silver-Queen/Details

| title = Calluna vulgaris 'Silver Queen' | publisher = RHS | access-date = 12 April 2020}}

'Sister Anne'{{cite web | url = https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/89955/Calluna-vulgaris-Sister-Anne/Details

| title = Calluna vulgaris 'Sister Anne' | publisher = RHS | access-date = 12 April 2020}}

'Spring Cream'{{cite web | url = https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/90779/Calluna-vulgaris-Spring-Cream/Details

| title = Calluna vulgaris 'Spring Cream' | publisher = RHS | access-date = 12 April 2020}}

'Tib' {{cite web | url = https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/90121/Calluna-vulgaris-Tib-(d)/Details

| title = Calluna vulgaris 'Tib' | publisher = RHS | access-date = 12 April 2020}}

'Velvet Fascination'{{cite web | url = https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/92372/Calluna-vulgaris-Velvet-Fascination/Details

| title = Calluna vulgaris 'Velvet Fascination' | publisher = RHS | access-date = 12 April 2020}}

'Wickwar Flame'{{cite web | url = https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/89601/Calluna-vulgaris-Wickwar-Flame/Details

| title = Calluna vulgaris 'Wickwar Flame' | publisher = RHS | access-date = 12 April 2020}}

'White Coral'{{cite web | url = https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/96812/calluna-vulgaris-white-coral-(d)/details

| title = Calluna vulgaris 'White Coral' | publisher = RHS | access-date = 8 March 2022}}

Uses

Formerly heather was used to dye wool yellow and to tan leather. 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. 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".Thomas Pennant, A Tour in Scotland and Voyage to the Hebrides (1772), New Ed. (Birlinn Ltd, 1998) {{ISBN|1-874744-88-2}} "Heath Beer" is mentioned in the recipe book of Lady Ann Fanshawe (compiled from 1651).{{cite book |title=Recipe book of Lady Ann Fanshawe |url=https://wellcomecollection.org/works/tw7bkjtq |author=Fanshawe, Lady Ann |year=1651 |page=[https://wellcomecollection.org/works/tw7bkjtq/items?canvas=152 404]|publisher=Unpublished manuscript (wellcome collection)}}

From time immemorial heather has been used for making besoms, a practice recorded in "Buy Broom Buzzems" a song probably written by William Purvis (Blind Willie) (1752–1832) from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England.

Heather honey is a highly valued product in moorland and heathland areas, with many beehives being moved there in late summer. Not always as valued as it is today,"Most people today consider it the best of all honeys, but this was not always so." Alice M. Coats, Garden Shrubs and Their Histories (1964) 1992, s.v. "Calluna". it was dismissed as {{lang|la|mel improbum}}, "unwholesome honey" by Dioscurides.Translated as "noughty honey" by William Turner: noted in Coats (1964) 1992. Heather honey has a characteristic strong taste, and an unusual texture, for it is thixotropic, being a jelly until stirred, when it becomes a syrup like other honey, but then sets again to a jelly. This makes the extraction of the honey from the comb difficult, and it is therefore often sold as comb honey.

White heather is regarded in Scotland as being lucky,{{cite web|url=http://www.treesforlife.org.uk/forest/mythfolk/heather.html|title=The Folklore of Heather|publisher=Tree for Life|access-date=2013-04-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080425034217/http://www.treesforlife.org.uk/forest/mythfolk/heather.html|archive-date=2008-04-25}} a tradition brought from Balmoral to England by Queen VictoriaCoats (1964) 1992. and sprigs of it are often sold as a charm and worked into bridal bouquets.

Heather stalks are used by a small industry in Scotland as a raw material for sentimental jewellery. The stalks are stripped of bark, dyed in bright colours and then compressed with resin.{{citation needed|date=December 2023}}

Calluna vulgaris herb has been used in the traditional Austrian medicine internally as tea for treatment of disorders of the kidneys and urinary tract.{{cite journal|pmid=23770053|pmc=3791396|year=2013|last1=Vogl|first1=S|title=Ethnopharmacological in vitro studies on Austria's folk medicine—an unexplored lore in vitro anti-inflammatory activities of 71 Austrian traditional herbal drugs|journal=Journal of Ethnopharmacology|volume=149|issue=3|pages=750–71|last2=Picker|first2=P|last3=Mihaly-Bison|first3=J|last4=Fakhrudin|first4=N|last5=Atanasov|first5=A. G.|last6=Heiss|first6=E. H.|last7=Wawrosch|first7=C|last8=Reznicek|first8=G|last9=Dirsch|first9=V. M.|last10=Saukel|first10=J|last11=Kopp|first11=B|doi=10.1016/j.jep.2013.06.007}}

In culture

Heather is seen as iconic of Scotland, where the plant grows widely. When poems like Bonnie Auld Scotland speak of "fragrant hills of purple heather', when the hero of Kidnapped flees through the heather, when heather and Scotland are linked in the same sentence, the heather talked about is Calluna vulgaris.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dugpAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA6|author=Alexander Wallace|title=The heather in lore, lyric and lay ...|year=1858}}

Purple heather is one of the two national flowers of Norway,{{cite web |title=røsslyng i Store norske leksikon |url=https://snl.no/r%C3%B8sslyng |website=snl.no |access-date=27 May 2022 |language=Norwegian}}{{Cite web |date=2022-09-27 |title=Norway's National Flower Explained - The Norway Guide |url=https://thenorwayguide.com/norways-national-flower/ |access-date=2022-09-28 |website=thenorwayguide.com |language=en-US}} the other being Saxifraga cotyledon. It was chosen as a national flower on the basis of a vote of popularity in a Norwegian radio show in 1976.

Calluna vulgaris is the province flower of the Swedish province of Västergötland.