Quote Originally Posted by MacMillan of Rathdown View Post
Virtually all Clans have a "plant badge" some of which, like the Holly badge of Clan MacMillan, are officially recorded in Lyon Court. Although lists of these badges can be found in most clan or tartan books, the reason for their use as a means of tribal distinction is somewhat unclear. Many of these plant badges would have been hard to identify at a gathering, never mind in the heat of battle, while some are only available at a certain time of the year. They evidently have some far more subtle origin, and it has been suggested that they may represent the land from which these clans/tribes first sprung up; perhaps something growing on the moot hill where tribal/clan chiefs were inaugurated. The truth of the matter is that we just don't know for certain.

What we do know from the oldest Gaelic poems is that the gathering symbols of the clans were "heraldic" flags -- the banner, standard, and pennon. If one is willing to accept the notion that plant badges really represent the "well-spring" of the clan, their use on standards and pennons is all the more understandable.

I hope that explains the almost unexplainable.
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