Erica eriocephala Lam.

Low compact to tall erect and laxly spreading shrub 0.25-1.0 m tall, single-stemmed reseeder. Branches: few to numerous erect to subspreading main branches continuing vegetative growth or ending in an inflorescence with few to many secondary flowering branches 3-10 mm long, young branches pubescent with spreading hairs occasionally interspersed with long stouter hairs and shortly stalked glands. Leaves 4-nate, occasionally 3-nate on same plant, rarely only 3-nate, erect to semi-spreading, imbricate or just shorter than internodes, (2)3-5(-11) mm long, oblong to lanceolate, incurved or straight or recurved, mostly adaxially flattened and abaxially rounded with acute edges, rarely rounded on both sides with rounded margins, apex acute to obtuse, abaxially narrowly sulcate, densely puberulous, the hairs soft to stiff, rarely glabrous, most glabrescent, with or without marginal sessile glands; petiole adpressed, 0.4-0.6 mm long, ciliolate, with or without marginal sessile glands. Inflorescence: flowers 4[3]-nate in 3-5 whorls, the upper 3 whorls umbel-like, the lower 2 whorls with distinct internodes, terminal on main and secondary branches; pedicel 0.5-2.0 mm long, pilose; bract variable in position from non-recaulescent in lowest whorl to partially recaulescent and approximate to calyx in the uppermost whorl, from leaf-like and green in lower whorls reducing in size by 2/3 and red in upper whorls, 0.5-3.0 mm long, oblong to lanceolate, subnarrowly sulcate, villous abaxially, adaxially often with submarginal sessile glands; bracteoles 2, variable in position from remote in lower whorls to approximate in upper whorls, variable in size from as long as bract to very reduced and minute, otherwise like bract. Calyx 4-lobed nearly to the base, 1.2-2.0 mm long; lobes 5/6 length of calyx, lanceolate, apex acute to obtuse, broadly sulcate almost for full length, villous with white hairs, with or without marginal or adaxial sticky or non-sticky small sessile glands, red. Corolla 4-lobed, 2.0-4.5 x 1.0-2.0 mm, tubular to obovoid to ovoid, occasionally with slight constriction in middle region, straight or slightly curved, rounded apically often 4-angled towards base, glabrous, colliculate to papillate, rarely sticky, pink; lobes erect or incurved, very small ±1/10 of the tube, rounded to triangular, erose. Stamens 4, exserted up to 2x as long as corolla, free; filaments thin linear broadening below anther, straight, glabrous; anthers bilobed, basifixed, oblong, muticous, dark brown; thecae erect slightly parted, 1.5-2.0 mm long, oblong, glabrous, sometimes papillate on edges; pore 1/3-1/2 length of theca; pollen in monads. Ovary 2 or 3[4]-locular often on same plant, 1.0-0.7 mm, ellipsoid to ovoid to globose, laterally flattened when 2-locular, 2 or 3[4]-lobed, apex obtuse to subacute, colliculate, with very large nectaries around base; ovules 1 per locule, pendulous, placenta apical; style exserted, straight, just longer than anthers, filiform, glabrous; stigma simple truncate. Fruit indehiscent or partially so, ±2x the ovary, with base of calyx and receptacle hard, swollen and protective, hard, colliculate, red; pericarp hard not very thick, splitting along sutures when under pressure, with many crystals, mesocarp single-layered hard lignified, endocarp 1-or 2-layered lignified; seed ellipsoid, testa very thin, cells elongate with straight to undulate, thin to slightly thickened anticlinal walls, with no pits. Flowering time: August to November, sometimes earlier in the Kogelberg area.