2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Common heather (Latin Calluna vulgaris) - the only representative of the genus Heather (Latin Calluna), belonging to the family of the same name Heather (Latin Ericaceae). This is a low-growing perennial shrub with a height of 20 to 50 centimeters, in very favorable conditions it can grow up to 1 meter. The common heather fills the European moorlands and swamps, covering them with a continuous carpet.
What's in your name
Generic Latin name"
Calluna"Is explained by the Greek word" kallyno ", the meaning of which in Russian sounds like"
cleanse, decorate ”, Which is associated with the tradition of some European peoples to knit brooms from the branches of the plant.
The specific epithet of the name “
vulgaris"Is translated from Latin into Russian by the word"
ordinary ».
Initially, this type of plant belonged to the genus "Erica" (Erica), but the British botanist Richard Anthony Salisbury (1761-02-05 - 1829-23-03) singled it out as an independent genus, giving it the Latin name "Calluna". The basis for such a selection was the difference between the corolla and calyx of the Heather flower, which have four sepals and four petals, while the plants of the Erica genus have five-membered flowers.
Although Richard Anthony Salisbury was known among his contemporaries as an odious person, and many of the names assigned to them plants were later changed, it is difficult to deny him the meticulousness of a true botanist. Therefore, a number of names, including the name of the genus "Calluna", are still alive today.
Common heather is often called
Scottish heather … It is not without reason that the Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 - 1894) wrote the poem "Heather Honey", which is introduced to Russian schoolchildren in elementary school (translated by S. Marshak).
Description
Common heather is an evergreen low shrub that grows mainly in wastelands, swamps, dunes in the northern lands of Europe, Siberia, as well as Turkey and Morocco. As an invasive plant, it is found in the northeastern regions of the United States of America. Under optimal conditions, common heather forms continuous thickets.
A short bush gives birth to numerous thin stems covered with sessile tiny scaly leaves. In spring and summer, the leaves are gray to green, and in autumn and winter they acquire bronze shades of purple.
Towards the end of the summer period, racemose one-sided inflorescences appear, formed by miniature flowers from white-pink and pink to purple-pink. Because of this flowering period, Common Heather is sometimes called Summer (or Autumn) Heather to distinguish the plant from similar plants of the Erica genus, which bloom during the winter-spring period.
There is another difference between the flowers of Common Heather: they are composed of four sepals and four corolla petals, which makes them different from the five-membered flowers of the Erika genus.
Usage
Common heather is an important food source for sheep and deer when the snow covers the grasses and the branches of the bush are available to the animals.
He is an excellent autumn nectar supplier for bees. Heather honey has a number of healing abilities, helping people suffering from bronchial asthma, perfectly cleanses the blood from unnecessary companions.
Since ancient times, brooms have been made from bush branches to cleanliness in dwellings. In addition, the plant was used to dye sheep's wool yellow and brew heather beer.
Until the 19th century, common heather, associated with the most severe rural poverty, was not popular with gardeners. Today it is a very popular garden plant with a wide range of flower colors (white, pink, various shades of purple, red) and decorative foliage that plays with silvery gray, golden and reddish colors.
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Heather
Heather (Latin Calluna) - a genus of shrubs of the Heather family. The only representative of the genus is Common Heather (Latin Calluna vulgaris). In nature, heather is found in North Africa, Greenland, North America, the temperate zone of Asia and Europe.
Heather Garden - A Real Fairy Tale Of Paradise
Flower meadows of bright and delicate shades, an alluring aroma, butterflies swinging open with their patterned lids, buzzing dragonflies, chirping birds, the heavenly kingdom of plants - almost every gardener and owner of a backyard wants to contemplate such a picture. Do you think this is impossible ?! You are not right! And the heather garden will be a confirmation of this. Heather Garden is a floral and vegetable carpet woven by the friendship of nature and man. Without a doubt, he will turn the site into a real fairy tale
Aster Heather
Aster heather (lat.Aster ericoides) - a flowering herb; a representative of the genus Astra, belonging to the large family of Asteraceae, or Astrovs. Under natural conditions, aster heather is found in the south and east of North America. In ornamental gardening, it is used, but not often, although, like other representatives of the genus, the culture has many advantages.
Common Goldenrod Or Common Solidago
Common goldenrod or common Solidago (lat.Solidago virgaurea) - a viable herb from the genus Goldenrod (lat. Solidago) of the Aste family (lat. Asteraceae). The plant is not only slender and giving golden abundant flowering, but also has healing abilities that have long been noticed by man.
Evergreen Heather
When you hear the word "Heather", your imagination is drawn to the small Pictish people who lived in the north of Scotland. They brewed a heather drink that was "sweeter than honey" and intoxicated more than wine. The recipe for the drink was passed from father to son, not allowing neighboring peoples to produce anything similar to it, and left the people with the last breath of the last Pict. So the legend says
