Fraoch

Calluna vulgaris

Beyond the moorland has its wealth

Of pink and purple, blue and gold;

Heather and gorse whose breath gives health

And Ling, a hive of bees that hold.

Heather is so imbedded in Scottish culture and history, it is fitting that the common English name should come from the 14th Century Old Scottish word, Haeddre- used to refer to the heathland.

The heather traditionally used in medicinal tisanes is Ling heather, Calluna vulgaris, and it is the most common heather to be found in our Scottish hillscapes and heathlands.

Calluna comes from the Greek καλλύνω (Kallyno) meaning ‘to sweep’ on account of the stems being tied together to make besoms (brooms for sweeping) as well as pot scourers-although, it is thought that ‘tufted heather’, Erica tetralix was preferred for scouring, owing to it’s finer stems. E. tetralix is known as fraoch an ruinnse (rinsing heather) for this reason.

It is the indigenous Gaelic name Fraoch which perhaps reveals the true medicinal nature of the well loved plant of the Gaels. Thought to originate from a Greek word meaning ‘to burst or break’, which correlates with the Latin fractum, and likely refers to the ancient use of heather to dissolve kidney stones.

Heather was first documented as being used to treat urinary conditions, as well as rheumatic complaints in 1st and 2nd centuries by Dioscordes and Galen. Science has recently shown that heather drank as a tisane reduces uric acid, a metabolic waste responsible for kidney stones as well as painful joints.

The 18th century French herbalist Messegue reputed to have cured a man crippled with rhueumatic pain and arthritis by ordering him to bathe in heather twice daily for three weeks.