Calluna vulgaris 'J.H. Hamilton'

(J. H.. Hamilton Scotch Heather)

Overview:

9" tall; flowers pink, double; Aug. - Oct; best of the pinks.

Taxonomy

[ Back to top ]

Domain: Eukaryota Whittaker & Margulis,1978 - eukaryotes
- Kingdom: Plantae Haeckel, 1866 - Plants
  - Subkingdom: Viridaeplantae Cavalier-Smith, 1981 - Green Plants
    - Phylum: Tracheophyta Sinnott, 1935 ex Cavalier-Smith, 1998 - Vascular Plants
      - Subphylum: Spermatophytina (auct.) Cavalier-Smith, 1998 - Seed Plants
        Infraphylum: Angiospermae auct.
        Class: Magnoliopsida Brongniart, 1843 - Dicotyledons
        Subclass: Dilleniidae Takhtajan, 1967
        Superorder: Ericanae Takhtajan, 1967
        Order: Ericales Dumortier, 1829
        Family: Ericaceae (er-ek-AY-see-ay) Durande, 1782, nom. cons. - Heath Family
        Subfamily: Ericoideae
        Tribe: Calluneae
        Genus: Calluna (kal-LOO-nuh) R.A. Salisbury, 1802 - Heather
        Specific epithet: vulgaris (Linnaeus) Hull (Britt. Fl. ed. 2. 1: 114. Sep. 1808)
        Cultivar: J.H. Hamilton
        Botanical name: Calluna vulgaris 'J.H. Hamilton' (L.) Hull

Notes:

An accepted name in the RHS Horticultural Database.

Physical Description

[ Back to top ]

Family Ericaceae:

Plants usually woody, or herbs, sometimes lacking chlorophyll. Leaves spiral, sometimes decussate, margin often toothed. Inflorescence racemose; bracteoles paired, basal. Flowers (4 or) 5-merous. Calyx imbricate. Corolla connate, imbricate. Stamens 10, sometimes with spurs or awns, dehiscing by pores, pollen in tetrads, rarely single. Ovary superior or inferior, placentation axile, rarely parietal, often many ovules per locule. Style ± as long as corolla, slender. Fruit a capsule or berry, rarely a drupe; calyx persistent.

About 125 genera and 4000 species: widely distributed in temperate and subarctic regions, also at high elevations in tropical regions; 22 genera and 826 species (524 endemic) in China.

The Monotropoideae are here included in the Ericaceae; previously in FRPS (56: 157 216. 1990), they were treated as the Pyrolaceae. Chiogenes, recorded from China in FRPS (57(3) : 69 71. 1991), is here included in Gaultheria. Over the last half century, the Empetraceae have usually been separated from, but closely associated with, the Ericaceae. In their ecology, leaf morphology and insertion, rusts, embryology, stamen anatomy, etc., they largely agree with that family. Molecular data place Empetrum and its relatives firmly within the Ericaceae, and in particular within the subfamily Ericoideae, in agreement with phytochemical and palynological data, and there they are best recognized as a separate tribe. There are distinctive features of the Empetreae that were responsible for their past familial status, e.g., reduced perianth with separate members, low ovule number, enlarged stigmas, etc. However, these are likely to be derived features associated with wind pollination. See Kron et al. (Bot. Rev. 68: 335 423. 2002) and the recent treatment of the Ericaceae by Stevens et al. (in Kubitzki, Fam. Gen. Vasc. Pl. 6: 145 194. 2004) .

Several genera and many species are ornamentals. Some fruits of Vaccinium in N China are sweet and edible, but of no particular value to humans. Some species of Chamaedaphne, Craibiodendron, Leucothoë, Lyonia, Pieris, and Rhododendron contain more or less toxic diterpenes, which are harmful to humans or domestic animals.^[1]

ID Features: Small, 4-ranked leaves forming a square-appearing shoot. Separate from Erica sp. by the bloom time; late summer for. Calluna, early spring for Erica. •

Flowers: Double pink flowers in August-October. Individual flowers are only 0.25" long, but are clustered in several inch. ling racemes.

Seeds: Fruit: Small dehiscent capsule. Matures in October. Not an ornamental feature.

Foliage: Summer foliage: Leaves are very small, mostly 0.05" to .1" long. Evergreen. Scale-like leaves. Opposite arrangement. 4-ranked, making shoots look squarish. Medium green color. • Fall foliage: Exposure in winter makes foliage develop a bronze, yellow, reddish or. silvery cast depending on the cultivar.

Landscaping

[ Back to top ]

Landscape Uses: Foreground of a border. Foundation plant. For its bloom in late summer. As a groundcover. For rock gardens. • Liabilities: A difficult plant to get to survive in most landscapes. Perfect soil drainage and adequate soil moisture are required. Guaranteed to die if given too much nitrogen. • Care: Follow a regular watering schedule during the first growing season to establish a deep extensive root system. Watering can be reduced after establishment. Prefers rocky, unimproved soils, do not over fertilize.

Growth

[ Back to top ]

Culture: Full sun. Perfectly-drained, moist, acidic soil high in organic matter. Avoid high fertility at all costs. Transplant from containers. Avoid dry, windswept sites. Do not allow to dry out and do not overwater.

Sunlight: Sun Exposure: Full sun

Moisture: Water Requirements: Water regularly, when top 3 in. of soil is dry.

Temperature: Heat Zones: High: 7 (>60 to 90 days) Low:1 (< 1 days) (map) • Cold Hardiness: High:7 (0 to 10 F) Low:5 (-20 to -10 F) (map)

Similar Species

[ Back to top ]

Members of the genus Calluna:

Bibliography

[ Back to top ]

Chou Yiliang & Zhou Ruichang. 1990. Pyrolaceae. In: Fang Wenpei & Hu Wenkuang, eds., Fl. Reipubl. Popularis Sin. 56: 157216
Fang Rhuicheng, Yang Hanbi & Chin Tsenli. 1999. Ericaceae (1). In: Fang Rhuicheng, ed., Fl. Reipubl. Popularis Sin. 57(1): 1213
Hsu Tingzhi, Gao Baochun, Fang Rhuicheng & Huang Shuhua. 1991. Ericaceae (3). In: Fang Rhuicheng, ed., Fl. Reipubl. Popularis Sin. 57(3): 1207
Hu Wenkuang, Hu Lincheng, Fang Mingyuan & He Mingyou. 1994. Ericaceae (2). In: Hu Lincheng, Fang Mingyuan, ed., Fl. Reipubl. Popularis Sin. 57(2): 1438
Ming Tien lu. 1980. Empetraceae. In: Cheng Mien & Ming Tien lu, eds., Fl. Reipubl. Popularis Sin. 45(1): 6062.

More Info

[ Back to top ]

Search for Pictures: images.google.com
Search for Scholarly Articles: Google Scholar
Search using Scientific Name and Vernacular Names: All the Web | AltaVista Canada | AltaVista | Excite | Google | HotBot | Lycos
Search using Specialized Databases: GenBank | Medline | Scirus | CISTI/CA L | Agricola Periodicals | Agricola Books
Translate this page using Google: Arabic | Chinese | Deutsch | Español | Français | Italiano | Japanese | Korean | Português

Notes

[ Back to top ]

Contributors:

Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-2006. Systema Naturae 2000. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Accessed April 19, 2007.

Identifiers:

Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 709106

Footnotes:

Mingyuan Fang, Ruizheng Fang, Mingyou He, Linzheng Hu, Hanbi Yang, Haining Qin, Tianlu Min, David F. Chamberlain, Peter Stevens, Gary D. Wallace & Arne Anderberg "Ericaceae". in Flora of China Vol. 14 Page 242. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org.

Keep Exploring...

[ Back to top ]

What is this? Click to find out...

Last Revised: May 05, 2008