ioo FLOWERS OF THE HEATHS AND MOORS 



or Crow Ling, Ling-berry, Moor. It is called Broom from its 

 use in making brooms. There was an Act of Parliament, 4 and 5 

 William and Mary, Cap. 23, which forbade anyone to burn on any 

 common or waste between Candlemas and Midsummer any Grigg, 

 heath, &c., and if they did they would be punishable with whipping 

 and imprisonment. In modern times Ling is protected, as at Croydon. 

 Laws still exist as to when moors may be burnt. It was called Ling 

 Heath to distinguish it (as being taller) from the shorter heaths. The 

 name He Heather was bestowed from its superiority as a fodder, for 

 sheep have an aversion to other heaths because of their bitter taste. 



It covers a great part of the North, and affords good fodder, when 

 there is nothing else, for sheep. The milk of cows is supposed to be 

 coloured red by it. It is used with earth to make Highland cottages, 

 and for thatching and bedding. Leather was formerly tanned with it, 

 and it was used for yellow and orange dyes. Brooms, brushes, and 

 baskets are made from the shoots. Ale was brewed from the young 

 tops. It was used for mending roads and heating ovens. The honey 

 from the flowers is dark in colour. 



ESSENTIAL SPECIFIC CHARACTERS: 



193. Calluna vulgaris, Hull. Shrub, tufted, stem wiry, procumbent 

 or ascending, leaves imbricate, small, downy, sessile, in 4 opposite rows, 

 flowers lilac, rose, in drooping racemes, corolla bell-shaped, calyx rose- 

 coloured, with 4 bracts. 



Cross-leaved Heath (Erica Tetralix, L.) 



This common heath is found to-day (we have no earlier records) 

 in the North Temperate Zone in N. and W. Europe, as far east 

 as Russia. It is common in all parts of Great Britain, except E. 

 Gloucs, as far north as the Shetlands, and ascends to 2400 ft. in the 

 Highlands. It is a native of Ireland and the Channel Islands. 



The Cross-leaved Heath is nearly as widely dispersed as Ling, 

 growing in the same habitats, but does not form such extensive patches 

 as the latter. It does not reach so high an altitude as Ling, but 

 occurs generally in the same districts, and principally on high ground. 



The Cross-leaved Heath is a shrub, and has the typical heath 

 habit. The plant is often downy and glandular. The stems are 

 branched below, and again just above the middle, simple above, 

 densely leafy below, with more distant whorls above, with a leafless 

 space just below the flower. The stem is wiry, the branches irregular, 

 slender. The young shoots are green at the tip, and much eaten by 



