Plant badge
Plant badges (also called clan badges) are symbols, usually a sprig from a specific plant, used to identify members of a Scottish clan. They’re usually worn on the bonnet behind the crest badge or on a lady’s tartan sash.
Popular stories say they were used to identify friends in battle. An authentic example is oats sprigs used by Montrose’s troops during the sack of Aberdeen. Other forces used items like paper or the White Cockade of Jacobites. But many badges would be impractical for real identification, and some plants used as badges are only available in certain seasons.
Even though people say clan badges were used long before crest badges, a former Lord Lyon King of Arms says the oldest symbols at gatherings were heraldic flags, banners, and pinsels.
There’s confusion about why some clans have more than one badge. In the 19th century, writers gave different plants to clans, sometimes contradicting each other. Some people claimed a clan would pick up the badge of a newly acquired land. In reality, several large groups share badges due to historical links:
- Clan Donald group (Macdonald, Macdonald of Clanranald, Macdonell of Glengarry, MacDonald of Keppoch) and related clans are linked with heath as their badge.
- Clan Chattan group (Mackintosh, Macpherson, Macgillivray, Macqueen, Macbain, Farquharson, Davidson) are linked with red whortleberry, bearberry, or boxwood.
- Siol Alpin group (Grant, Gregor, MacAulay, Macfie, Macnab, Mackinnon, Macquarrie) are linked with pine.
Some badges come from the heraldry of clan chiefs. For example, the Farquharsons are said to use pine, which also appears in Invercauld Highlanders’ uniforms. Pine was used in the Invercauld Arms as a mark connected to the Shaw–Mackintosh Arms.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 03:24 (CET).