Erica niveniana E.G.H.Oliv.

Erect to semi-spreading straggling shrublets to 250 mm tall, single-stemmed reseeder. Branches: numerous flexuose main branches, each with 4-5 secondary branchlets up to 5 mm long, hirsute with erect hairs, internodes close. Leaves 3-nate, erect to subspreading, imbricate, 2.0 x 0.6 mm, elliptic to oblong-elliptic, narrowly sulcate, slightly flat adaxially, obtusely rounded abaxially; petiole adpressed, 0.6 mm long, glabrous long ciliate. Inflorescence: flowers 3-nate in 1-3 whorls, umbel-like when more than 1 whorl, terminal on main branches and secondary branchlets; pedicel 0.1-0.2 mm long, hirsute; bract partially recaulescent and subapproximate to calyx, 1.2-2.0 x 0.2-0.3 mm, lanceolate or narrowly elliptic, bracteose or occasionally more leaf-like in lowest whorl, pink; bracteoles 2, approximate, like the bract but slightly smaller. Calyx 4-lobed, obconic, 4-angled with the angles opposite the lobes sometimes only slightly so, 1.3 x 0.4-0.8 mm, pink, hirsute or subglabrous in lower part, hairs white, the upper reaching apex of corolla; lobes 1/3-1/4 the length of calyx, erect, deltoid, subacute, broadly sulcate, edged with sessile glands adaxially, sometimes only a few. Corolla 4-lobed, 1.5-2.0 x 0.5-1.0 mm, tubular-obovoid to tubular-campanulate, colliculate, slightly viscid, pink; lobes 0.1-0.2 mm long, subacute, entire. Stamens 4, free, exserted; filaments 2.2 mm long, linear-oblong, glabrous; anthers dorsally fixed near base, oblong, muticous, dark brown; thecae 1.3 x 0.2 mm, oblong subfalcate, aculeate-edged; pore 1/4-1/3 the length of theca; pollen in monads. Ovary 1-locular, 0.7 x 0.3 mm, asymmetrically ovoid, acute, glabrous, with distinct basal nectaries; ovule 1, pendulous, placenta apical; style exserted up to 2x the length of corolla, glabrous; stigma simple truncate. Fruit not seen.