Erica bredasiana E.G.H.Oliv.

Low rounded somewhat straggly shrub 200-300(-500) mm tall, single-stemmed reseeder. Branches: numerous erect main branches terminating in an inflorescence with a few short secondary flowering branches 1-10 mm long, all sparsely puberulous with reflexed hairs, with slight infrafoliar ridges especially noticeable and grey when older. Leaves 3-nate, imbricate, subspreading, 2.0-3.0 x 0.6 mm, oblong to elliptic, adaxially flattened, abaxially rounded and narrowly sulcate, apex acute, edges acute, glabrous, sparsely ciliolate and with minute sessile glands interspersed; petiole adpressed, 0.3 mm long, glabrous ciliolate. Inflorescence: flowers 3-nate in 1 whorl, terminal on main branches and secondary branchlets; pedicel very short, 0.1-0.2 mm long, glabrous; bract fully recaulescent as abaxial sepal; bracteoles 2, fully recaulescent as lateral sepals. Calyx unequally 4-lobed, 1.0 x 1.5 mm, broadly and shortly funnel-shaped, glabrous, yellow-green; large lobe subequal to others to as long as corolla, broadly ovate at base becoming narrow and leaf-like apically, subacute, overlapping the lateral lobes, other lobes equal, ±1/2 as long as corolla and 1/2 length of the calyx, apex obtuse to acute, all lobes narrowly sulcate for ±1/2 their length, finely ciliolate. Corolla 4-lobed, 1.5 x 1.5 mm, broadly cyathiform to broadly obovoid, glabrous, smooth, creamy green with red tinges; lobes erect, broad, subacute, ±1/3 as long as corolla, overlapping at base, edges slightly erose. Stamens 6(-8), manifest; filaments fully fused into a thin semitransparent straight glabrous tube; anthers adnate in lower half, bilobed, broadly obovate, dorsifixed near base, muticous; thecae erect, 0.8-1.0 mm long, slightly falcate-elliptic, glabrous, smooth but slightly colliculate apically, septum with basal internal pore between the thecae; main pore 2/3 as long as theca; pollen in tetrads. Ovary 2(-4)-locular, 0.6-0.8 x 0.9-1.0 mm, rhomboid to ellipsoid, with 4-8 narrow longitudinal slits, surface slightly and irregularly wrinkled, apex subacute, central columella very large and thick, septa thick, ovary wall thick, nectaries absent; ovule 1 per locule, pendulous, placenta apical; style distinct, 0.5 mm long, glabrous; style exserted, 1.3 mm broad, from very broadly cyathiform to funnel-shaped with erect edges, becoming subpeltate with age, glabrous, red. Fruit indehiscent, suboblate, slightly flattened laterally when 2-locular, 1.5 x 1.5-2.0 mm, with 4-8 deep longitudinal slits, dark red; pericarp thick and hard with mesocarp thick and lignified towards endocarp, endocarp thin and lignified, septa and columella thickened and slightly lignified, no crystals in mature fruit but present in ovary; seeds with very thin testa, cells elongate with thin jigsawed anticlinal walls, with no pits. Flowering time: January to July depending on locality and possibly on the occurrence of some summer rain in the earlier months.