Heather (Calluna vulgaris):

Heather, the remedy for those who talk incessantly about themselves, is made by the sun method.

Heather; image from pixabay.com

Heather honey, where the bees have collected nectar exclusively from heather, has a higher moisture content than other honey.  Both manuka and heather honey are what’s known as thixotropic substances – i.e. they are a gel until stirring when they become a liquid.   Recently, scientists at Glasgow University have demonstrated that Scottish heather honey is at least as effective as manuka honey as an anti-bacterial wound dressing.  Manuka honey is currently the only medical-grade honey available, used in veterinary medicine as a wound dressing, particularly for horses.

Heather honey also has a distinctive colour, smell and taste making it prized both alone and in food and drinks. It is one of the ingredients of Atholl Brose, a whisky-based liqueur, and in cranachan, a traditional Scottish dessert.

Dyed bundles of heather stems; image from www.heathergems.blog

A modern use for heather stems is in the making of jewellery.   These are cleaned and dyed then compressed into blocks and sliced. Shaped pieces are cut from the slices, lacquered and mounted to form Heathergems jewellery, made in Pitlochry, Perthshire.

The aerial parts of the plants were used in as a tonic and to treat consumption, coughs, nerves, depression, heart complaints, arthritis and rheumatism. A yellow dye was made from the flowers using alum as a mordant (fixant). Other traditional uses included as thatch, bedding, fuel, rope, baskets, brooms and fencing. Nails and pegs were made from the roots and the plants were used as feed and bedding for livestock.

Heather; image courtesy of Mo Sibbons

Heather is still considered to be a low value plant material, growing abundantly on heathland and moorland. It has been shown to potentially offer a new business opportunity to farmers as a source for valuable triterpenoids such as α-amyrin, β-amyrin, uvaol, ursolic acid and oleanolic acid. These can be obtained from the surface waxes of the aerial parts of the plants.  The possibility of using a benign extraction and fractionation method developed by scientists in York to extract these ‘green’ chemicals on an industrial scale is under investigation.

The shoots of heather contain chlorogenic acid and its 3-O-glucoside, 3-O-galactoside and 3-O-arabinoside (where a glucose, galactose or arabinose sugar molecule is attached to the chlorogenic acid molecule).  Chlorogenic acid is found in many plants and acts as an antioxidant in both plants and animals. It is abundant in green coffee extract which is marketed as a food supplement claimed to help with weight loss.

Chemical diagram of chlorogenic acid

In the diet, it protects against age-related degenerative diseases.  There have been attempts to increase the amount of chlorogenic acid in food plants such as tomatoes by genetic engineering to boost their potential benefits to human health.  Chlorogenic acid lowers blood pressure and may alter the metabolism of sugar making it beneficial in cases of Type II diabetes. This may be related to the formation of chlorogenic acid glycosides (such as chlorogenic acid 3-O-glucoside).

For an introduction and sources and more info., click the links.