Cross Leaved Heath Heather
Cross Leaved Heath Heather - a subtle pale pink heather with drooping flower heads that have wooly hairs on the lower part of the sepals.
A delicate looking heather that prefers wet boggy places - sometimes referred to as bog heather. Western Isles Pink Wildflowers
Cross Leaved Heath Heather
Erica tetralix, Cross leaved Heath heather also has bell shaped flowers.
Slightly paler pink in colour, this heather prefers wetter places and grows around the wet moorland and bogs, alongside bog asphodel.....
Bell Heather - Erica cinerea
The purple or bell heather- Erica cinerea, commences flowering in early June.
This heather likes the dryer places and so grows on rocks or dry moorland. As suggested by its common name the flowers are bell shaped.
Cross Leaved Heath Heather - Bog Heather
it is a lovely wildflower which has woolly hairs on the lower side of he sepals. It has whorls of grey green evergreen leaves. The flowers are bell shaped but have almost closed mouths
Cross-leaved Heath is a heather that gets its name from the distinctive whorls of four leaves that occur along its stems.
Erect Twiggy Branches
The cross leaved heath heather plant has erect twiggy branches and looks rather straggly. It can grow to a height of 60cm. This heather likes the acidic soils of the heaths and tends not to grow as bushy as the other two heathers we get here.
Known as Bog Heather
As this heather likes the wetter boggy places, it is sometimes referred to as "bog heather". Cross-leaved Heath is a type of heather that gets its name from the distinctive whorls of four leaves that occur along its stems.
Yellow Dye - Harris Tweed
This heather the Cross Leaved Heath Heather is the heather from which the yellow dye comes from that was used in the textile industry, particularly in the Harris Tweed that is produces here on the islands.
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Lifespan of Heather
Heather has a long lifespan and can live up to 40 years
Heather provides food for sheep, deer, birds, rabbits and hares
For various sheep and deer which can graze the tips of the plants when snow covers low-growing vegetation, the heather is an important food source.
Various birds also use heather as a food source including the red grouse which feeds on the shoots, flowers and seeds.
Mountain & Brown Hares & Heathers
The Mountain and Brown Hare need young heather for browsing, they also use heather as a form of cover, the heather making them harder to spot for predators. Rabbits living on moorland also enjoy young shoots.
White Heather For Luck
Just once in a while you can find white Heather - where the flowers are white and it is said that if you find this you are going to be lucky, good luck will follow you.
This story or folklore comes from it is said that in Scotland supposedly the pink purple variety had been stained by blood of the Picts and that the white type of heather was not stained and remained pure
Norway National Flower
Heather is Norway's national flower
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