Erica axillaris Thunb.

Erect densely to sparsely branched shrub up to 1 m tall, single-stemmed reseeder. Branches: numerous main erect branches terminating in an inflorescence or continuing vegetative growth with numerous shorter flowering secondary and tertiary branches, all pubescent to puberulous, the hairs sometimes stellate, with no infrafoliar ridges. Leaves 3-nate, erect to semispreading, ±4.0 x 0.5 mm, oblong to oblong-elliptical, adaxially flattened, abaxially rounded and narrowly sulcate, apex acute, edges acute, glabrous, sparsely ciliolate and with occasional minute sessile glands admixed; petiole adpressed, ±0.5 mm long, glabrous, sometimes ciliolate and with a few sessile glands. Inflorescence: flowers 3-nate in 1 whorl, terminal on main branches and also secondary and tertiary branchlets; pedicel short, 0.2-0.4 mm long, glabrous or sparsely puberulous; bract fully recaulescent as abaxial lobe of calyx; bracteoles 2, fully recaulescent as lateral lobes of calyx. Calyx 4-lobed, unequal, 0.8-1.0 x 1.5 mm, broadly cyathiform to broadly and shortly funnel-shaped, ±1/2 as long as the corolla, glabrous or puberulous, green; abaxial lobe up to 2x as long as others and slightly less fused, with leaf-like sulcate apical half from a broad base, sometimes just longer than corolla, laterally imbricate, other lobes 1/2 as long as the calyx, broadly triangular, narrowly sulcate for 2/3 their length, often laterally imbricate, ciliolate often with sessile glands admixed. Corolla 4-lobed 1.0-1.5 x 1.5 mm, broadly obovoid to cyathiform, glabrous or puberulous, smooth, yellowish green sometimes tinged with red, soon becoming papery brown; lobes erect broadly deltoid, apex obtuse to truncate, erose. Stamens 8(7), included; filaments from free to fully fused, straight, semitransparent, glabrous; anthers bilobed, laterally connate in lower half, oblong, dorsifixed near base, muticous; thecae erect, adpressed, 0.7 mm long, obliquely elliptic, glabrous with apical papillae; pore 1/3 of theca; pollen in tetrads. Ovary 2-4-locular, 0.5 x 0.4 mm, ovoid, of 2 basic types, one with upper 1/2-2/3 rounded with 4-8 narrow irregular ridges, apex obtuse or subemarginate, puberulous or glabrous apically, ridges disappearing with maturity, the other with 4(3 or 2) marked ridges or lobes, wing-like when young, glabrous with ridges papillate, lower 1/3 of both forms irregularly wrinkled, no nectaries; ovule 1[2] per locule, pendulous, placenta apical; style mostly very short and indistinguishable from stigma, ±0.1-0.2 mm long, glabrous; stigma manifest, ±1 mm wide, very broadly cyathiform to funnel-shaped with an erect rim ±0.2 mm high, collapsing inwards when older, papillate or sparsely puberulous or glabrous underneath, red. Fruit indehiscent, drupaceous, hard and stone-like, up to 1.5 x 1.5 mm, globose, apex obtuse or acute with slight beak, variously lobed depending on number of carpels, mostly smooth with wrinkles in lower half; pericarp very hard due to very lignified and thick 2-layered endocarp, mesocarp slightly thickened with many crystals; seeds with thin testa cohering to endocarp, cells elongated with radial walls slightly thickened and jigsawed with many pits, to very thin with walls not readily distinguishable. Flowering time: Most months of the year depending on locality and often flowering again with the old fruiting stage on the same plant.