heather

heather

1. a low-growing evergreen Eurasian ericaceous shrub, Calluna vulgaris, that grows in dense masses on open ground and has clusters of small bell-shaped typically pinkish-purple flowers

2. any of certain similar plants

3. a purplish-red to pinkish-purple colour

4. of or relating to interwoven yarns of mixed colours

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

heather

[′heth·ər]

(botany)

Calluna vulgaris. An evergreen heath of northern and alpine regions distinguished by racemes of small purple-pink flowers.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Heather

 

(Calluna), a genus of plants of the family Ericaceae, represented by only one species (C. vulgaris). A low evergreen shrub, usually 30-70 cm high, it has numerous small, sessile, almost trihedral leaves that are tegularly arranged in four layers. The flowers are also small and numerous on young branches in more or less unilateral racemes; the corolla is lilac pinkish, sometimes white, shorter than the bright, laminated calyx, which is colored like the corolla.

Heather grows in pine forests, in burned-out forests, and in peat bogs, often forming dense thickets. It is found in Europe, predominantly in the northern half, Asia (mainly in the western portion), North Africa (Morocco), the Azores, Greenland, and the Atlantic coast of America. Heather is a good nectar-bearer but gives a tart, or even bitter, honey; it had fodder value, especially in the Atlantic countries of Western Europe. Flowering branches are used as winter bouquets. Sometimes representatives of the genus Erica are also called heather.

M. K. KIRPICHNIKOV

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.