Erica caprina E.G.H.Oliv.

Low compact erect to semi-spreading shrublet to 300 mm tall, single-stemmed reseeder. Branches: numerous erect to spreading main branches occasionally rooting when in contact with soil, terminating in an inflorescence or continuing vegetative growth, numerous very short flowering secondary branchlets 2-5 mm long, all puberulous with reflexed hairs and often with scattered shortly stalked glands. Leaves 3-nate, erect to slightly spreading, imbricate on young branches otherwise as long as internodes, 2.0-3.5 x 0.5 mm, oblong to ovate, adaxially flattened at base rounded at apex, abaxially rounded and narrowly sulcate, margins subacute at base rounded towards apex, apex subacute, glabrous to pubescent when young with a few to many sessile glands abaxially and on margins; petiole adpressed, 0.3 mm long, ciliolate. Inflorescence: flowers 3-nate in 2-12 whorls, umbel-like, terminal on short secondary branchlets clustered together in a spike-like arrangement; pedicel short, 0.2-0.8 mm long, glabrous; bract partially recaulescent, approximate to calyx, erect to spreading-recurved, 0.5-1.5 x 0.2 mm, linear to leaf-like, slightly to distinctly keeled, apex acute to subacute, glabrous or pubescent, margins ciliolate or with larger plumose hairs and gland-tipped hairs towards the apex, green and leaf-like to white with green apex to completely white; bracteoles 2, as long as bract or slightly shorter, otherwise like the bract. Calyx 4-lobed, 1.0-2.0 mm long, funnel-shaped to broadly obconical to campanulate, with distinct longitudinal ridge opposite the lobes, pubescent sometimes with a few shortly stalked glands intermixed, white-hyaline; lobes 1/4-1/3 the calyx, erect to spreading, ovate-oblong to broadly ovate, keel-tipped, apex subacute, broadly sulcate for 1/2 length of lobe, often glabrous or with a few hairs at apex ad-and abaxially, margins with long plumose stout hairs sometimes gland-tipped, or just simple long gland-tipped hairs. Corolla 4-lobed, 2.0-2.4 mm long, obconic to broadly funnel-shaped, glabrous, smooth to slightly colliculate, white; lobes erect, 1/5-1/4 the corolla, obtuse to subobtuse, entire to crenulate. Stamens 4, free, manifest to slightly exserted; filaments filiform, with sigmoid bend at apex, glabrous; anthers bipartite, dorsifixed near base, oblong-quadrate, spurred; thecae erect parallel, 0.7 mm long, oblong, finely aculeate, yellow-brown; spurs 1/3 as long as thecae, thin oblong, pendulous or curving up an out; pore 1/3 the theca; pollen in monads. Ovary 2-locular, 0.5 x 0.3 mm, ellipsoid, puberulous at the apex, obtuse, with distinct basal nectaries; ovules 1 per locule pendulous, placenta apical; style terete, straight, glabrous; stigma simple-truncate to very minutely cyathiform. Fruit indehiscent, 0.8 x 0.5 mm, ellipsoid, yellow; pericarp very thin and papery, all 3 layers equally thin, with many crystals in mesocarp, endocarp just visible as elongate cells; seeds ellipsoid, testa very thin, transparent, cells with elongate slightly undulate to jigsawed anticlinal walls, with no pits.