Heather - Calluna vulgaris

Alternative names
Ling
Description

Short to medium carpeting plant to 80 cm. Leaves opposite, scale like and congested. Flowers pale purple to pinkish lilac, 3 to 4 mm in slender racemes.

Identification difficulty
Recording advice

Provide a photograph of the plant in its habitats. (RPR)

Habitat

Moors, open woodland, bogs and banks on acid soils.

When to see it

July to September.

Life History

Perennial subshrub.

UK Status

Widespread and fairly common though sometimes local in Britain.

VC55 Status

Very local in Leicestershire and Rutland with most Leicestershire records coming from the Charnwood Forest area.

In the Flora of Leicestershire (Primavesi and Evans 1988) it was found in 37 of the 617 tetrads, and in the Flora of Rutland (Messenger 1971) in 3 tetrads.

It is listed on the current VC55 Rare Plant Register (Hall and Woodward 2022), because of its threat level.

Leicestershire & Rutland Map

MAP KEY:

Yellow squares = NBN records (all known data)
Coloured circles = NatureSpot records: 2020+ | 2015-2019 | pre-2015

UK Map

Species profile

Common names
Ling, Ling, Heather, Common Heather
Species group:
Trees, Shrubs & Climbers
Kingdom:
Plantae
Order:
Ericales
Family:
Ericaceae
Records on NatureSpot:
89
First record:
21/06/2001 (Jane McPhail;John Kramer)
Last record:
23/12/2023 (Bedford, Frank)

Total records by month

% of records within its species group

10km squares with records

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