Calluna
Calluna vulgaris is the sole species in the genus
Calluna in the family Ericaceae. It is a low-growing perennial shrub growing to 20 to 50 centimetres tall, or rarely to 1 metre and taller, and is found widely in Europe and Asia Minor on acidic soils in open sunny situations and in moderate shade. It is the dominant plant in most heathland and moorland in Europe, and in some bog vegetation and acidic pine and oak woodland. It is tolerant of grazing and regenerates following occasional burning, and is often managed in nature reserves and grouse moors by sheep or cattle grazing, and also by light burning. Referred to as
Erica in all the old references,
Calluna was separated from the closely related genus
Erica by Richard Anthony Salisbury, who devised the generic name
Calluna from the Greek
kallunein, "beautify, sweep clean", in reference to its traditional use in besoms. The specific epithet
vulgaris is Latin for 'common'.
Calluna is differentiated from
Erica by its corolla and calyx each being in four parts instead of five.