Appearance
Calluna has small scale-leaves borne in opposite and decussate pairs, whereas those of "Erica" are generally larger and in whorls of 3-4, sometimes 5. The flowers emerge in late summer; in wild plants these are normally mauve, but white-flowered plants also occur occasionally.
Naming
Referred to as "Erica" in all the old references, "Calluna" was separated from the closely related genus "Erica" by Richard Anthony Salisbury, who devised the generic name "Calluna" from the Greek "kallunein", "beautify, sweep clean", in reference to its traditional use in besoms.
Habitat
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.
Predators
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.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".
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" 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". The use of heather in the brewing of modern heather beer is carefully regulated. By law, the heather must be cleaned carefully before brewing, as the undersides of the leaves may contain a dusting of an ergot-like fungus, which is a hallucinogenic intoxicant.
Cultural
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".The Robert E. Howard story "Kings of the Night" frequently references heather when describing a portion of what would become Great Britain.
The English folksong, Scarborough Fair, has the line, "Gather it all in a bunch of heather."
A poem written by Robert Louis Stevenson, Heather Ale: A Galloway Legend, tells a story of a long-forgotten drink of heather ale.
Purple heather is one of the two national flowers of Norway.
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