British Native Trees
and Shrubs

Heather Calluna vulgaris (Ericaceae)

Behind the western ridge, thou glorious sun!
Shine in the slant beams of the sinking orb,
Ye purple heath-flowers! Richlier burn, ye clouds!
Live in the yellow light, ye distant groves!

This Lime-Tree Bower My Prison
Samuel Taylor Coleridge [1772-1834]

Great sweeps of purple cover heaths and moorland in late summer and autumn when this low-growing evergreen comes into flower. As true heather, or ling, it is our most common shrub of heath, moorland and mountain, having twiggy, prostrate or ascending, much-branched stems rising to about 60 cm in height. The tiny, green, opposite pairs of stalkless leaves, triangular in section and up to 3.5 mm long, hug the flowering stems, each having two pointed projections from the base. From July to the end of September the flowers appear in long, spike-like clusters, each shaped like an open bell, with four, pinkish-purple sepals which are joined at the base, hiding the shorter petals. Round capsules contain dust-like seeds.

Heather truly thrives only where the soil is acid with a pH below 6.5, but it is found from dry heath to the wettest of bogs from sea-level to over 900 m throughout most of England.

This is a plant for the rock garden, for the fringes of a bog garden or for covering an exposed bank. Though tolerant of shade, heather flowers most freely in full sun and prefers an acid, free-draining soil with some moisture. Dead flowers can be sheared off in spring and older, leggy plants can be improved by covering the centre with garden soil in spring to encourage new growth. Propagation is from cuttings taken near the base of the current season’s growth in late summer; by layering; or by raising from seed collected in October or November, dried and sieved, and sown in spring on a peat-substitute and sand mixture in a cold frame. Because it has mycorrhizal associations, fungal symbiosis, cuttings from summer shoots may not be easy to root.

Dry heather twigs are used in thatching and fencing and in basket-making.

The nectar-filled flowers attract insects, including bees, while yellow underwing moths spin cocoons and emperor moths lay eggs around the stems. The mounds protect ground-feeding birds, such as wrens, in winter and provide shelter for grass snakes and slow-worms. The many new cultivars are usually sterile and offer nothing to the food chain.

Page last updated - January 10, 2002  

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