Calluna vulgaris

A richly branched dwarf shrub, usually 10 to 50 cm tall, rarely up to 90 cm, with arching ascending shoots.

The evergreen leaves are only 1 to 3 mm long, set in four rows and overlapping like roof tiles.

Info Flora gives August to October as the flowering period in Switzerland.

The Celle bee institute in Lower Saxony states that heather normally flowers from early August to mid September.

In Switzerland it grows on dwarf-shrub heaths, in bogs and on poor pastures, from the colline to the alpine belt.

Pladias lists both wind and insect pollination, with honeybee, bumblebees and hoverflies as the main pollinators.

Heather can supply large amounts of nectar and pollen.

During heather bloom, honeybees fly intensively into the heather stands.

Left undisturbed, extracted heather honey has a gelatinous consistency.

The honey turns briefly fluid when needled and then sets again; this reversible behaviour is called thixotropy and separates heather from Erica honey.

Combs must be needled before extraction, otherwise the honey would not run out of the cells in the extractor.

Heather honey varies from reddish-brown to dark beige and has a typical tart, aromatic, sometimes slightly bitter taste.