Erica blaerioides E.G.H.Oliv.

Erect, compact, much branched shrublet to 0.3 m, rarely 1.2 m tall, with thin twiggy branches, single-stemmed reseeder. Branches: numerous, thin; main branches 20-50(-100) mm long, with continuous apical growth, secondary branches 1-5 mm long ending in an inflorescence, all branches covered with simple short spreading hairs, internodes 1.0-1.5 mm long. Leaves 3-nate, erect, slightly incurved, occasionally spreading when older, lanceolate to elliptic, 1.7-2.2 x 0.6-0.8 mm, adaxially flat, abaxially rounded, with subacute margins, partially open-backed to narrowly sulcate, sulcus open at base, puberulous to sparsely so when young with longer apical tuft, glabrescent with age; petiole ± 0.5-0.9 mm long, glabrous, ciliate. Inflorescence: flowers 3 in 1 whorl at apex of secondary branches; pedicel ± 2.0-3.5 mm long, glabrous to puberulous; bract partially recaulescent, 1/3-2/3 way up pedicel, narrowly oblong to lanceolate, 1.4 x 0.2-0.3 mm, white, glabrous or sparsely puberulous, ciliate, sulcus very small or absent; bracteoles 2, slightly above bract, otherwise same as bract. Calyx 4-partite, very slightly fused at base; segments not imbricate, mostly adpressed to corolla, lanceolate to broadly so, ± 1.4-2.2 mm long, acute, white, glabrous or puberulous, ciliate with hairs and a few non-sticky short-stalked glands, sulcus ± 1/3 length of sepal, narrow. Corolla 4-lobed, narrowly urceolate, 3.2-3.4 x 1.7-2.0 mm, sparsely puberulous to puberulous, white; lobes suberect to recurved, narrowly deltoid to broadly so, 0.6-0.9 x 0.5 mm, subacute to rounded, margins erose. Stamens 4-8, free, included; filaments oblong, 1.2-1.5 x 0.2 mm, slightly widened in middle or towards base, with marked apical S-bend, glabrous, white; anthers bipartite, erect, lanceolate to oblong in adaxial view, dorsally attached near base, appendiculate; thecae erect adpressed, curved oblong in lateral view, 0.6-0.9 x 0.2-0.3 mm, aculeate, brown, pore ± '/3 length of cell, appendages irregularly shaped, 0.3-0.6 x 0.1-0.2 mm, irregularly lacerate, puberulous; pollen in tetrads. Ovary 4-locular, broadly obovoid to globose, 0.8-1.0 x 0.7 mm, very slightly emarginate, puberulous to puberulous in upper half only, with well developed nectaries around base; ovules 8-12 per locule, pendulous from placenta almost the length of columella; style included, straight, 1.5-2.0 mm long, glabrous; stigma simple truncate. Fruit a dehiscent capsule, valves splitting nearly to base and to ± 45°, delicate, not hard and woody, septa only on the valves. Seeds elongate ovoid, ± 0.6 x 0.3 mm, orange, testa cells 75-100 x 25 µm, anticlinal walls slightly thickened, straight to very slightly and irregularly undulate, no pits in inner periclinal walls.