Erica hansfordii E.G.H.Oliv.

Shrublet diffuse, straggling amongst restiads, sometimes stouter up to 300 mm high in open areas, single-stemmed reseeder. Branches: a few thin intertwining main branches up to 300 mm long with internodes 4-10 mm long, numerous secondary branches 2-15 mm long, reflexed, 1(2) per node of main branch, bearing 1 apical inflorescence; all branches reddish brown with fine short spreading hairs. Leaves 4-nate, ± 3.5 x 0.3 mm, subspreading to spreading, slightly incurved to slightly recurved, acute, adaxially flattened, very sparsely and shortly hairy, abaxially rounded, glabrous and narrowly sulcate, margins rounded, sparsely ciliolate, sometimes with a few small sessile glands; petiole appressed, ± 0.6 mm long, sparsely ciliolate, yellowish. Inflorescence: a 1-flowered unit, terminal on secondary branches only, mostly pendulous; pedicel very short ± 0.6 mm long, glabrous to slightly hairy, yellowish green; bract basal, minute, 0.4 x 0.3 mm, oblong, rounded to subacute, lacking a sulcus, ciliolate, pale yellow to white; bracteoles 2, partially recaulescent, in middle position, otherwise like the bract. Calyx 4-partite; lobes slightly imbricate, 0.8 x 0.7 mm, ovate, subacute, glabrous, yellow, margins edged with a few short hairs and non-sticky gland-tipped hairs, very narrowly sulcate in upper 1/4 to 1/3. Corolla 4-lobed, 2.0-2.3 x 2.5-2.8 mm, broadly campanulate to cyathiform, glabrous, smooth, yellow with a tinge of green; lobes 1.0 x 1.5 mm, broadly rounded or with slight acute apex, entire. Stamens 8, free, included; filaments straight, ± 0.8 mm long, glabrous, yellow to golden brown apically; anthers bilobed, ovate, muticous or with remnant of minute decurrent spur; thecae 0.5 x 0.25 mm, narrowly ovate, aculeate, golden brown, pore V3 length of theca; pollen in tetrads. Ovary 4-locular, 1.5-2.0 x 2.5 mm, obovoid to oblate, emarginate, glabrous but pustulate, semitransparent when fresh, yellow with reduced basal nectaries; ovules 1(2) per locule, spreading from a central position on columella, placenta not swollen; style included, 1.2 mm long, straight, yellow with slightly wider brown apex; stigma simple truncate. Capsule 2.0-0.8 mm, broadly cyathiform; valves splitting only half their length with slightly incurved apices, splitting completely from columella to 135° angle, outside reticulate-foveolate; septa only on valves. Seeds 0.3 x 0.25 mm, ellipsoid, golden brown and shiny, testa deeply reticulate, anticlinal walls thick and jigsawed towards base becoming semi-straight at outer limits. Flowers can be found in most months of the year, but the peak flowering period is in early summer.