A bitter compound found in heather and related plants that gives them a distinctive taste.
From Erica (the genus of heathers) + -olin (a chemical suffix). The term emerged in 19th-century chemistry as scientists isolated and named compounds from plant genera.
Ericolin is why some plants taste so bitter—it's actually a defense mechanism plants evolved to stop animals from eating them, so chemists named the compound after the plant itself!
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