Quote Originally Posted by MacBean View Post
heath = heather (and is also the common name for the entire family including azaleas and rhododendrons). You can often find heather varieties at nurseries. The red whortleberry in my avatar is also a heath.

Remember the scene of the three witches from MacBeth "When shall we three meet again? In thunder lightning or in rain? Where the place? Upon the heath. There to meet with MacBeth!" That's all the Shakespeare I can quote, though my son can recite reams and reams (he's an actor). I played one of the three witches in school when I was eleven.
Quote Originally Posted by Brian K View Post
That had occurred to me, but what further confused the issue was the fact that on more than one list it named common heath as the MacDonald badge and had other badges listed as various heathers. The use of both forms of the name seemed as though they must refer to entirely different plants. Of course, it could be a question of how the badges are referred to in the clan/family associated with it.
I'd have to agree with MacBean as well. I too have noted some on-line sources listing the Australian "heath", but as MacBean pointed out it is also a very old term used in literature throughout the UK. As for Clan Donald, I have seen the common heath/heather (purple-pink) listed as the plant badge, whilst my own branch (that of the Keppoch Macdonnell's/Macdonalds) list the white heather.

I hope that helps