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24-592: The valley includes several nature conservation areas: Vassfaret is characterized by low alpine coniferous forests, heather , and bogs. Down in the lower valley, there are a number of lakes surrounded by forest. In the higher elevations on either side of the valley, the mountains are rocky and weather beaten. The whole valley is not more than about 30 kilometres (19 mi) long. People have worked with logging and timber floating for more than 300 years in this valley. There has been human activity in Vassfaret as early as

48-459: A charm and worked into bridal bouquets . 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. Calluna vulgaris herb has been used in the traditional Austrian medicine internally as tea for treatment of disorders of the kidneys and urinary tract. Heather

72-468: A protected area . The intention was to preserve the characteristic flora and fauna of eastern Norway, especially as an area for bears, and for the cultural remains from logging and floating. A special area covering cultural protection covers about 8 square kilometres (3.1 sq mi) within the Inner Vassfaret landscape protection area. Within this area there is logging by the old methods, and

96-458: A characteristic strong taste, and an unusual texture, for it is thixotropic , being a jelly until stirred, when it becomes a syrup like other honey, but then sets again to a jelly. This makes the 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, a tradition brought from Balmoral to England by Queen Victoria and sprigs of it are often sold as

120-605: A mixture of flavourings used in the brewing of 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". "Heath Beer" is mentioned in the recipe book of Lady Ann Fanshawe (compiled from 1651). From time immemorial heather has been used for making besoms ,

144-420: A practice recorded in " 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, it was dismissed as mel improbum , "unwholesome honey" by Dioscurides . Heather honey has

168-409: A wide range of purples, and including reds. The flowering season with different cultivars extends from late July to November in the northern hemisphere. The flowers may turn brown but still remain on the plants over winter, and this can lead to interesting decorative effects. Cultivars with ornamental foliage are usually selected for reddish and golden leaf colour. A few forms can be silvery grey. Many of

192-865: 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. Calluna has small-scale leaves (less than 2–3 mm long) borne in opposite and decussate pairs, whereas those of Erica are generally larger and in whorls of 3–4, sometimes 5. It flowers from July to September. In wild plants these are normally mauve , but white-flowered plants also occur occasionally. They are terminal in racemes with sepal-like bracts at

216-633: Is native to Europe , Iceland , the Faroe Islands , and the Azores . It has been introduced into many other places worldwide with suitable climates, including North America , Australia , New Zealand and the Falkland Islands . It is extremely cold- hardy , surviving severe exposure and freezing conditions well below −20 °C (−4 °F). The plant was introduced to New Zealand and has become an invasive weed in some areas, notably

240-425: Is seen as iconic of Scotland , where the plant grows widely. When poems like Bonnie Auld Scotland speak of "fragrant hills of purple heather', when the hero of Kidnapped flees through the heather, when heather and Scotland are linked in the same sentence, the heather talked about is Calluna vulgaris . Purple heather is one of the two national flowers of Norway , the other being Saxifraga cotyledon . It

264-741: The Tongariro National Park and Mount Ruapehu in the North Island, as well as the Wilderness Reserve (Te Anau) in the South Island, overgrowing native plants. Heather beetles have been released to stop the heather, with preliminary trials successful to date. There are many named cultivars , selected for variation in flower colour and for different foliage colour and growing habits. Different cultivars have flower colours ranging from white, through pink and

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288-534: The area: This Innlandet location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This Buskerud location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Calluna Calluna vulgaris , common heather , ling , or simply heather , is the sole species in the genus Calluna in the flowering plant family Ericaceae . It is a low-growing evergreen shrub growing to 20 to 50 centimetres (8 to 20 in) tall, or rarely to 1 metre (40 in) and taller, and

312-419: The base with a superior ovary, the fruit a capsule . Unlike Erica , Calluna sometimes sports double flowers . Calluna is sometimes referred to as Summer (or Autumn) heather to distinguish it from winter or spring flowering species of Erica . Phenolic compounds in the shoots of Calluna vulgaris include chlorogenic acid and a novel phenolic glycoside, most of which are found in greater number during

336-465: The form decussatio is used, e.g. decussatio pyramidum . Similarly, the anatomical term chiasma is named after the Greek uppercase 'Χ' ( chi ). Whereas a decussation refers to a crossing within the central nervous system , various kinds of crossings in the peripheral nervous system are called chiasma. Examples include: The origin of the contralateral organization , the optic chiasm and

360-492: The logs are transported by horse. Every spring the logs are floated downstream into the Nevlingen river. At the northern end of the Nevlingen river, there are the remains of a farm called Vassfarplassen , where the farmer owned a gun that was nicknamed Vassfarloven , which means "The Law of Vassfaret". In the olden days, it is said that the people of Vassfaret were not very welcoming. A special internal relationship existed in

384-430: The logs past troublesome spots. From 1940-1945 during World War II , especially in the later years of the war, there was intense military activity in Vassfaret. This was the operational base a Resistance group code-named "ELG", and because of this there were many parachute drops there. There are still missing airdrops in the area. By royal decree on 28 June 1985, the Vassfaret and Vidalen valleys were made into

408-409: The major decussations on the nervous system of vertebrates has been a long standing puzzle to scientists. The visual map theory of Ramón y Cajal has long been popular but has been criticized for its logical inconsistence. More recently, it has been proposed that the decussations are caused by an axial twist by which the anterior head, along with the forebrain , is turned by 180° with respect to

432-544: The ornamental foliage forms change colour with the onset of winter weather, usually increasing in intensity of colour. Some forms are grown for distinctive young spring foliage. The following cultivars have gained the Royal Horticultural Society 's Award of Garden Merit : Heather is an important food source for various sheep and deer which can graze the tips of the plants when snow covers low-growing vegetation. Willow grouse and red grouse feed on

456-426: The summer. The nectar of Calluna vulgaris contains a megastigmane, callunene, that is inhibitory at naturally occurring concentrations to a common trypanosome parasite of bumble bees, Crithidia bombi . Koch et al. elucidate the mechanism of activity that results in the loss of the parasite's flagellum, leading to reduced infectivity, because the flagellum is crucial to anchoring in the insect gut. Calluna

480-461: The times before the Black Death in 1349. In later ages, there were permanent settlements until 1921, when the last inhabitants left. In all, there are remnants of 12 farms in the valley as well as remnants of some mountain farms in the higher elevations. Numerous artifacts from the logging days are left in the valley including dams, walls constructed by stones out in the rivers, and runs to get

504-509: The valley, but anyone coming from the neighbouring valleys would not expect a friendly welcome. This was especially true when it came to fishing within the valley. The saying was that in the middle of river there was a shallow area; you could row to that point, but if you got any closer, then you were within range of "The Law of Vassfaret" and the owner of that rifle was an excellent marksman, so fishermen had to be wary that they did not got too close. There are several authors who have written about

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528-419: The young shoots and seeds of this plant. Both adult and larva of the heather beetle ( Lochmaea suturalis ) feed on it, and can cause extensive mortality in some instances. The larvae of a number of Lepidoptera species also feed on the plant, notably the small emperor moth Saturnia pavonia . Formerly heather was used to dye wool yellow and to tan leather. With malt , heather is an ingredient in gruit ,

552-579: Was chosen as a national flower on the basis of a vote of popularity in a Norwegian radio show in 1976. Calluna vulgaris is the province flower of the Swedish province of Västergötland . Decussation Decussation is used in biological contexts to describe a crossing (due to the shape of the Roman numeral for ten, an uppercase 'X' ( decussis ), from Latin decem  'ten' and as  ' as '). In Latin anatomical terms,

576-525: Was separated from the closely related genus Erica by Richard Anthony Salisbury , who devised the generic name Calluna probably from the Ancient Greek Kallyno ( καλλύνω ), "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. Calluna vulgaris

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