Editing Calluna (section)

==Uses==
Formerly heather was used to dye wool yellow and to tan leather. With [[malt]], heather is an ingredient in [[gruit]], a mixture of flavourings used in the brewing of [[Beer in Scotland|heather-beer]] during the [[Middle Ages]] before the use of [[hops]]. [[Thomas Pennant]] wrote in ''A Tour in Scotland'' (1769) that on the Scottish island of [[Islay]] "ale is frequently made of the young tops of heath, mixing two thirds of that plant with one of malt, sometimes adding hops".<ref>Thomas Pennant, ''A Tour in Scotland and Voyage to the Hebrides'' (1772), New Ed. (Birlinn Ltd, 1998) {{ISBN|1-874744-88-2}}</ref> "Heath Beer" is mentioned in the recipe book of [[Ann, Lady Fanshawe|Lady Ann Fanshawe]] (compiled from 1651).<ref>{{cite book |title=Recipe book of Lady Ann Fanshawe |url=https://wellcomecollection.org/works/tw7bkjtq |author=Fanshawe, Lady Ann |year=1651 |page=[https://wellcomecollection.org/works/tw7bkjtq/items?canvas=152 404]|publisher=Unpublished manuscript (wellcome collection)}}</ref>

From time immemorial heather has been used for making [[besom]]s, a practice recorded in "[[Broom Buzzems|Buy Broom Buzzems]]" a song probably written by [[William Purvis (Blind Willie)]] (1752–1832) from [[Newcastle-upon-Tyne]], England.

Heather [[honey]] is a highly valued product in moorland and heathland areas, with many [[beehives]] being moved there in late summer.  Not always as valued as it is today,<ref>"Most people today consider it the best of all honeys, but this was not always so." Alice M. Coats, ''Garden Shrubs and Their Histories'' (1964) 1992, ''s.v.'' "Calluna".</ref> it was dismissed as {{lang|la|mel improbum}}, "unwholesome honey" by [[Dioscurides]].<ref>Translated as "noughty<!--noughty in original--> honey" by [[William Turner (naturalist)|William Turner]]: noted in Coats (1964) 1992.</ref> Heather honey has a characteristic strong taste, and an unusual texture, for it is [[thixotropic]], being a [[Gel|jelly]] until stirred, when it becomes a syrup like other honey, but then sets again to a jelly. This makes the [[honey extraction|extraction]] of the honey from the comb difficult, and it is therefore often sold as [[comb honey]].

White heather is regarded in Scotland as being lucky,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.treesforlife.org.uk/forest/mythfolk/heather.html|title=The Folklore of Heather|publisher=Tree for Life|access-date=2013-04-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080425034217/http://www.treesforlife.org.uk/forest/mythfolk/heather.html|archive-date=2008-04-25}}</ref> a tradition brought from [[Balmoral Castle|Balmoral]] to England by [[Queen Victoria]]<ref>Coats (1964) 1992.</ref> and sprigs of it are often sold as a [[Good luck charm|charm]] and worked into bridal [[flower bouquet|bouquet]]s.

Heather stalks are used by a small industry in Scotland as a raw material for sentimental jewellery. The stalks are stripped of bark, dyed in bright colours and then compressed with resin.{{citation needed|date=December 2023}}

''Calluna vulgaris'' herb has been used in the traditional Austrian medicine internally as tea for treatment of disorders of the kidneys and urinary tract.<ref>{{cite journal|pmid=23770053|pmc=3791396|year=2013|last1=Vogl|first1=S|title=Ethnopharmacological in vitro studies on Austria's folk medicine—an unexplored lore in vitro anti-inflammatory activities of 71 Austrian traditional herbal drugs|journal=Journal of Ethnopharmacology|volume=149|issue=3|pages=750–71|last2=Picker|first2=P|last3=Mihaly-Bison|first3=J|last4=Fakhrudin|first4=N|last5=Atanasov|first5=A. G.|last6=Heiss|first6=E. H.|last7=Wawrosch|first7=C|last8=Reznicek|first8=G|last9=Dirsch|first9=V. M.|last10=Saukel|first10=J|last11=Kopp|first11=B|doi=10.1016/j.jep.2013.06.007}}</ref>