OK Which is it?

[Carolina Kiltman]

According to the international Clan site for MacLaine of Lochbuie, the clan plant is listed as "Blaeberry (Blackberry)" A lable from an Ingles Buchan tartan item lists it as "Crowberry" According to my botony reference, Crowberry is Empetrum an evergreen. Blaeberry is Viccinium Myrtillus which is a cousin to the American Blue Berry. What we call "Blackberry" is a member of the rose family with nasty thorns. So which is it?

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

er... it's whatever your Chief says it is.

[Bugbear]

Ok, this is the problem with using commen names of plants instead of the scientific names. I had to go back and read your post a few more times, and botanically speaking... ya, what MacMillan of Rathdown said.

[JSFMACLJR]

According to the international Clan site for MacLaine of Lochbuie, the clan plant is listed as "Blaeberry (Blackberry)" A lable from an Ingles Buchan tartan item lists it as "Crowberry" According to my botony reference, Crowberry is Empetrum an evergreen. Blaeberry is Viccinium Myrtillus which is a cousin to the American Blue Berry. What we call "Blackberry" is a member of the rose family with nasty thorns. So which is it?

Crowberry certainly is the plant badge for the MacLeans of Duart, while some MacLeans also use sprigs of holly.

Your source is correct, though, and blaeberry is the plant badge for the Maclaines of Lochbuie. Is is completely different than "blackberry," and is not a thorny shrub. You may like to check out this site (if you haven't already) :http://www.treesforlife.org.uk/tfl.blaeberry.html

Kind regards,
Sandy MacLean

[Bugbear]

I looked up the distributions of the two plants and Blaeberry makes more sense: quite Scottish. If the official clan site says it's Blaeberry, then I would think that would be a better bet.

* and now that I see JSFMACLJR's post, that is very interesting on the crowberry... It sounds like a very interesting plant,. I just happen to have looked at the Trees for Life site when looking into the blaeberry.

Apologies to those that have knolege of the clan Heraldry.

[Carolina Kiltman]

Thanks. I have planted a blueberry a cousin to the blaeberry so I can have sprigs of my clan veggie as one commissioner called it But as you can see, it can be confusing. The blaeberry is from the UK clan site, but then they put (blackberry) in quotation marks. BTW I am very familiar with the problem with common names, they can change from area to area. Case in point the is the black raspberry is not the same as the blackberry, though both are forms of roses. Nuff said on the confusion, unless someone else has more info as to what is on the clan badge.