Erica lithophila E.G.H.Oliv. & I.M.Oliv.

Small, brittle, delicate shrublets, 20 x 20-80 x 50 mm, rarely 120 mm in diam., erect arid compact to slightly spreading, single-stemmed reseeders. Branches: thick, woody, basal stem with numerous main branches, 10-15 mm long, secondary branches few, ± 2 mm long; stems with white, short, dense, simple hairs and a few plumose hairs; internodes very short. Leaves 2-or 3-nate, imbricate, subspreading, elliptic, 2.5-3.0 x 0.8 mm, abaxially rounded, adaxially flattened, covered with dense, grey-white, short, simple hairs, margins with short, plumose, gland-tipped hairs, sulcus narrow open at base; petiole ± 0.4 mm long, short-haired to sparsely hairy, margins with simple hairs and/or short, gland-tipped hairs. Inflorescence: flowers 1-3 in 1 whorl at ends of main branches and very rarely, secondary branchlets; pedicel ± 2 mm long, red, covered with very short, fine hairs and in upper half also with stouter, white, crisped, plumose hairs. 0.4-1.0 mm long, these with or without an apical gland; bract partially recaulescent about 2A up pedicel, ovate, ± 2.2 x 1.7 mm, subacute, pink, sparsely covered with very short, fine, simple hairs, unevenly toothed, teeth gland-tipped, sulcus narrow, ± 1/3 length of bract; bracteoles 2, approximate to calyx, slightly lopsided, otherwise same as bract. Calyx 4-partite, segments imbricate, broadly ovate, ± 2.8 x 2.8 mm, subacute, pink, otherwise like bract. Corolla 4-lobed, urceolate, ± 7.5 x 4 mm, pink, glabrous; lobes recurved, broadly rounded, ± 1.8 x 0.7 mm, erose sometimes with very broad, plumose hairs at base. Stamens 8, included, free; filaments linear, ± 3 x 0.4 mm, slightly geniculate below theca, white, glabrous; anthers bipartite, ovate in adaxial view, appendiculate; thecae oblong, 0.9-1.2 x 0.9 mm in lateral view, dark brown, smooth, appendages elongate, narrow-lanceolatev± 1 mm long, strigulose, irregularly toothed, pore ± 1/2 length of theca; pollen shed in tetrads. Ovary 4-locular, sub-sphaeroid, ± 1.8 x 1.5 mm, emarginate, completely covered with longish, spreading, simple hairs, with well-developed nectaries around base; ovules 25-30 per locule, erect to suberect on a complete central placenta; style included, ± 6 mm long, straight, glabrous; stigma manifest capitellate. Fruit a dehiscent capsule, ± 3 x 4.2 mm, valves splitting to base and 45°, septa mainly on columella, hard, woody. Seeds ellipsoid, ± 0.7 x 0.4 mm, slightly flattened laterally; testa colliculate, yellow-orange, cells ± oblong, 70-100 x 50 µm, outer part of anticlinal walls straight to slight undulate, inner part irregularly undulate, inner periclinal walls sparsely and finely pitted.