Famous Scots

Rosa canina is native to Britain, Europe and parts of western Asia. The scented flowers are very variable in colour and have resulted in several cultivated hybrids. These include Rosa canina (Abbotswood) which was found in the garden of Irish engineer, Harry Ferguson, who founded the tractor company which made the famous 'Little Grey Fergie' which changed the face of Scottish agriculture forever.

Robert Burns (1759-1796) also makes over 60 references to it in his many songs and poems as it was clearly one of his favourite flowers.

Shrouded in mythology and strongly linked to the Christian faith, the dog rose is symbolic of purity, love and marriage. It was also linked to the prediction of death, as it was once thought that if you were ill and dreamt of roses you would die!

The bright red hips which are produced in the autumn were once used to make medicinal syrup; they were also thought to give protection from sorcery and witches. This is perhaps why it often features in medieval and gothic architecture and works of art, especially, the wood and stone carving found within ecclesiastical buildings.

On the authority of the Court of the Lord Lyon the rose is recorded in the Public Register of All Arms and Bearings in Scotland and in the Matriculations of Arms of Chiefs as being the official plant badge of the Clans Borthwick, Erskine and Lennox.

Native to Britain and many parts of Europe the sweetly scented primrose has many medicinal and cultural values similar to the cowslip and is considered by some to be more important medicinally.

In the language of flowers it represented both the joy of youth and young love. In some parts of the country balls of flowers were once used by girls as a predictor of marriage, during the game they sung the names of potential suitors. Like the cowslip, the primrose is associated with the story of Melicerta, whose lover pined away after her sudden death. Shakespeare also associates the plant with death referring to it as the funeral flower for youth in 'Cymbeline Act 4, scene 2'.

On a brighter note Robert Burns (1759-1796) wrote of it with a fondness several times, for example it appears in the well known song 'Sweet Afton' with the lines:

How pleasant thy banks and green vallies below,
Where wild in the woodlands the primroses blow ...

Interestingly Charles Darwin (1809-1882) discovered its complex pollination system, involving pin and thrum-eyed flowers which ensure proper cross-fertilization by long-tongued insects such as bees and moths.

Like so many of our wild flowers it is protected by law and you should not pick it under any circumstances.

Native to Britain, Europe and parts of North America no plant apart from the thistle is more associated with the romance of Scotland than heather. For generations it has featured in our literature, poetry, music and song. Yet few realise that many of the vast expanses of heather that dominate our landscape are the result of deforestation, sheep and the establishment of grouse moors.

Martin Martin (died 1719) a Gaelic factor from Skye famed for his book 'A Description of the Western Isles of Scotland' (1703) discussed the health-restoring qualities of ling when it was used as a mattress.

Osgood Mackenzie (1842-1922) the founder of the famous west coast subtropical garden at Inverwewe also talks about its use in domestic life in his book 'A Hundred Years in the Highlands' (1921) which also explains the establishment of the garden. Evidence exists that heather has been used in brewing in Scotland since 2000 BC and today it is still produced in Argyll and marketed as Fraoch the Gaelic word for the plant.

This brew was celebrated by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) in his poem:

Heather Ale
From the bonny bells of heather,
They brewed a drink lang syne
Was sweeter than honey
Was stronger than wine.

Bee keepers still take their bees to the heather in the flowering season as the honey produced is extremely sweet with a distinctive taste favoured by many around the world. The foliage and flowers were used to prepare a wide range of coloured dyes ranging from yellow through green to orange and brown. These dyes, and likely the colour of the plant itself have inspired many tartans .

It was also used medicinally. The dried stems are made into besoms and brushes; this was once an important cottage industry in many rural areas. The stems were also bundled and bonded to make floor tiles, similar to the process used to make jewellery today.

White heather is the plant badge of the Clan McPherson who have a clan seat on land granted by Robert the Bruce near Badenoch. The clan was a strong supporter of the crown during the Jacobite uprising.

Now naturalised in parts of Britain the lesser periwinkle is thought to have been introduced from Europe prior to 1600. It is pollinated by long-tongued bees and bee flies. Traditionally it has been planted in gardens as a symbol of good fortune and a happy marriage.

Herbalists used it as a tonic, a laxative and as a gargle; it was also prepared into ointment for skin conditions. Recently it has been important in providing the drug Vincamine, used in treating brain disorders.

On the authority of the Court of the Lord Lyon, periwinkle is recorded in the Public Register of All Arms and Bearings in Scotland and in the Matriculations of Arms of Chiefs as being the official plant badge of the Clan Hannay, originally from south west Scotland.

Perhaps the most famous Clan member was James Hannay (died 1661), the Dean of St Giles in Edinburgh. Reputedly, it was during one of his sermons on the 23 July 1637 that he became the target of a stool flung by one Jenny Geddes (c1600-c1660), a market trader, who was outraged at his use of the Anglican Book of Common Prayer for the first time in Scotland. The incident turned into a full scale riot which brought out the town guard and was depicted in a contemporary print.

Illustration of Jenny Geddes throwing the stool at Minister Hannay. From 'Witnesses for the Truth in the Church of Scotland' by W.P. Kennedy, 1843. 
Public domain, taken from www.archive.org

The hazel is native to Britain, Europe and Asia. The durable timber has many uses ranging from hurdles, wattle and daub to walking sticks, bean poles and even divining rods. It has been considered sacred in many cultures since ancient times being seen as a gift from the gods.

In the Celtic world it is sacred to the sea god Manannan. It was also associated with fairies and considered to ward off evil. St Patrick is reputed to have driven the snakes out of Ireland with a hazel wand. It was also seen as a tree of knowledge, the salmon of knowledge in the Irish Fenian Cycle having eaten nine hazelnuts before passing knowledge onto humanity. This is perhaps why many thought that wisdom was imparted from it through the edible nuts, which make excellent eating. In Scotland they were also processed into milk in the autumn to feed new born babies in the belief that it would provide them with good luck and fine health. The nuts are also associated with fertility and marriage, being given out at weddings in the hope that the couple would be blessed with numerous children.

Hazel is the plant badge of the Clan Colquhoun which dates back to the 13th century and a grant of land near Dunbartonshire. Famous members of the Clan include Patrick Colquhoun (1745-1820), a former provost of Glasgow and tobacco merchant, who later became a reformer and statistician. He founded the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce (the oldest of its kind in Britain) and the Thames River Police.

More recently the Scottish painter, printmaker and set designer Robert Colquhoun (1914-1962) became one of the leading artists of his generation after studying at the Glasgow School of Art and later throughout Europe.

Robert Colquhoun (1914-1962), Artist, Self Portrait. 
Scottish National Portrait Gallery. Reproduced with the permission of Bridgeman Images. 

The twisted ornamental form growing in the garden is affectionately known as 'Harry Lauder's Walking Stick' in deference to the well-known comic singer, born in Portobello in Edinburgh, Sir Harry Lauder (1870-1950). Lauder regularly appeared on-stage with a gnarled old twisted staff whilst singing his famous song 'Roamin in the Gloamin'.