Calluna vulgaris (L.) Hull
Source: Wikipedia
Synonyms 45
- 1,177,958 GBIF occurrences
- 61,261 iNaturalist observations
This species is abundant throughout much of its range. The species has undergone local declines as a result of overgrazing, habitat loss, forestry practices inconsistent with the species' habitat needs, and water and air pollution (Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland 2023). However, given the species' extremely large range and very large overall population, these declines are not thought to be significant.
Heather is a carpeting subshrub with pale purple flowers growing in acid soils often forming extensive colonies on lowland heaths, upland moorland and nutrient poor grasslands, open woodland, wet peat bogs, banks, roadsides and sand dunes (Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland 2023, Blamey and Grey-Wilson 2003, Castroviejo et al. 1993).
Threats include habitat loss or decline in heathland for forestry, agriculture, mineral workings, scrub encroachment and heavy grazing (Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland 2023). During the past few decades there has been a widespread conversion of European heathland to grassland due to changes in land use and increased atmospheric nitrogen deposition and increased nutrient availability (Johansson 2000).
Heather dominated heaths and moorlands are habitats of international conservation importance. Many areas of heathland and upland moors in the United Kingdom are designated Special Areas of Conservation (Joint Nature Conservation Committee 2012). Reduced grazing seems to have little impact on conserving this species and therefore restoration is the most effective form of conservation, trampling and disturbance generally tend to promote its establishment (Mitchell et al. 2008).This species forms part of two habitat types protected on Annex 1 of the Habitats Directive: 2310 "Dry sand heaths with Calluna and Genista" and 2320 "Dry sand heaths with Calluna and Empetrum nigrum".It is listed as Vulnerable in Bulgaria (Petrova and Vladimirov 2009) and Least Concern in Denmark (NERI 2007, Aarhus Universitet 2019), Estonia (eElurikkus 2023), Finland (Hyvärinen et al. 2019), Germany (Ludwig and Schnittler 1996, Metzing et al. 2019), Luxembourg (Colling 2005), Norway (Artsdatabanken 2021), Switzerland (Moser et al. 2002) and the United Kingdom (Cheffings and Farrell 2005, Stroh et al. 2014).The species occurs in many protected areas, including Natura 2000 sites (UNEP-WCMC and IUCN 2023).
European regional assessment: Least Concern (LC)EU 27 regional assessment: Least Concern (LC) Heather (Calluna vulgaris) is a widely distributed subshrub. It occurs throughout much of Europe and can also be found in central Asia and North Africa. Although this species has declined and is threatened with habitat loss in some areas, it is still considered to be classified as Least Concern and is unlikely to decline fast enough in the near future to be threatened with extinction.
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