Clan Mackintosh - Symbols


	Symbols used by the Clan

War Cry	Loch Moigh! (Loch Moy!)

Pipe music	The Mackintosh's Banner (Gathering) The Black Rock of Clan Chattan (Gathering) The Mackintosh's Lament (Lament) Mackintosh's Welcome to Grantown-on-Spey

	A Badge of Distinction
The Cairngorm Mountains form the southern boundary of the clan territories and this rugged mountain range is the last remaining habitat of the Highland Wildcat from which the name Clan Chattan, "clan of the cats" is derived. The cat salient is featured in the crest of the Coat of Arms of the Mackintosh chiefs and is a common heraldic symbol of other clans in the Clan Chattan confederacy. The Clan badge contains the crest surrounded by the belt and buckle representing allegience to the Chief. The motto Touch not the cat bot a glove means Do not touch the cat without a glove a reference to the ferociousness of the untamed animal. It was used by the clan to put fear into the minds of rival clans and give a warning that all the Clan Chattan clans were likely to come out if you disturbed one!

Plant Badge The Red Whortleberry
The whortleberry, cowberry or Vaccinium vitis-idaea, as it is known to the botanist, is the official plant of the Clan Chattan and Clan Mackintosh. A member of the heath family or Ericaeceae, the cowberry is a more or less creeping evergreen dwarf-shrub (10-20cm in size). It has rather leathery oval leaves, being broadest in the middle, glossy and with slightly downward in-rolled margins (1-3cm in length).
	It has delicate white or pink flowers, being open-mouthed and often in clusters. Flowering usually occurs between May and August. The fruits of the cowberry appear as small edible berries. To cause extra interest and confusion to those interested in this group of plants, the cowberry can also hybridize with another member of the heath family, the bilberry or Blaeberry vaccinium myrtilus.
The Ericaeceae are a widespread family, with members spread throughout the world, somewhat like Clan Chattan. The cowberry also has a widespread distribution, being found in Britain, the Northern and Central parts of Europe southwards to the Pyrenees, Appenines, and the Mountains of the Balkan Peninsula. In the Alps it is even found up to an altitude of 2500 metres. It is a species that is found in a restricted number of habitats, all being notable for their rather acidic ground conditions, usually associated with very peaty soils. The list of habitats is strongly dictated by their geography, especially in Britain, and includes heathlands, moorlands, acidic upland oak and birch woodland and the native Caledonian pine forests. All these habitats are predominantly found in wetter and cooler oceanic and more mountain conditions of Wales, Northern England and Scotland.
As a delicacy, it has rather a bitter taste, and is seldom eaten as a plain fruit, though edible. However, when properly prepated, as with many other sharp fruits, it does make a very fine jelly and preserve, and can be used as a sweet jam or as a condiment to cooked meats.
One additional interest of this rather splendid little plant is its array of local names, especially in Britain; these include the widely used whortleberry and cowberry, also clusterberry in Derbyshire, cranberrywire in Kincardineshire, Aberdeenshire, Banffshire and Moray, flowering box in Cheshire, lingberry in Yorkshire and Cumbria, keadya-atchin in Donegal and moonog more widely throughout Ireland. Sadly it is lumped together with bilberry, and is known as llus or duon bach in Welsh. All in all our clan plant, although small in stature, is certainly one we should not overlook! References: A Field Guide to the Wild Flowers of Britain and Europe. Thomas Schauer. 1982; Wild Flower Key. Francis Rose. 1981; Culpeper's Colour Herbal. David Potterton. 1983; The Englishman's Flora. Geoffrey Grigson. 1975; Atlas of the British Flora. F.M.Perring, and S.M.Walters 1976; Clan Chattan Journal No. 9 June 1991

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