HEATHER

COMMON NAME: Heather

LATIN NAME: Calluna Vulgaris

ORIGIN: Europe

HABITAT: Heather grows not only in Europe, it can be found in Asia, North Africa and North America, on the Azores and the desert expanses of Greenland. Loneliness is not for Heather, it thrives in large thickets, giving preference to moss peatlands and pine forests.

BOTANICAL INFORMATION: Heather (Calluna vulgaris L.) is the only representative of its kind. It belongs to the vast family of Heathers (Ericaceae). This family includes up to 4,000 different shrubs, perennial grasses and even small trees.

Heather is a creeping, highly branched, evergreen shrub reaching 30 cm - 1 meter in height. Its leaves are small, up to 2.5 mm in length and up to 2 mm in width, short-linear, trihedral, with a blunt apex and arrow-shaped base, they are arranged stepwise-tiled in 4 rows. The bell-shaped flowers of Heather are collected in a single-sided brush. It can be pale lilac, lilac-pink and, most rarely, white. The fruit is a box with a lot of small seeds of Heather. The plant can also propagate by dividing the roots. Heather roots can appear on the side branches of a plant, which break off over time and turn into independent bushes.

CHEMICAL COMPASITION:

Scientists found alkaloids, flavonoids - kempferol, quercetin, myricetin, saponins, tannins, minerals with a high calcium content, organic acids, including citric and fumaric, as well as glycoside arbutin, enzyme arbutase, glycoside ericonin, provitamin A, gum , trace elements, resins and starch.

HISTORY:

Most often Heather is associated with the endless wastelands of Scotland drowning in its purple haze. There is a legend according to which no plant agreed to live on this barren land, except for Heather. For such complaisance, the Creator granted the grass with extraordinary vitality, delicate beauty and wonderful aroma. Sandy soil, poor in nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, loose and light, is now called “heather land” by gardeners.

There are many legends and beliefs associated with Heather. In Norway, where a branch of Heather is one of the national symbols, it also symbolizes youth and immortality. In this country, it is believed that the white flowers of Heather grow where the murder was committed.

In Scotland, Heather is the flower of good luck. It can often be seen in bridal bouquets. In addition, the Scots grow the plant at the doorstep of the house as an amulet from the evil eye. They believe that the plant is able to attract wealth and for this, they put it in wallets. Previously, dye was made from Heather, giving a yellow tint to the famous plaid.

Many people know by heart the magnificent ballad of R. L., Stevenson's Heather Honey. Heather blooms in many lines of the great Scottish poet Robert Burns, hides in Andersen's tales. The moorlands lie in Wuthering Heights E. Bronte and Jane Air novels by S. Bronte, the novel The Hound of the Baskervilles by A. Conan Doyle and even the boggy hobbits created by the genius of J. R. Tolkien, now and then tread on Heather flowers.

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