Erica piquetbergensis (N.E.Br.) E.G.H.Oliv.

Erect woody shrublets mostly 0.3 m tall rarely 0.5 m, single-stemmed reseeder. Branches: numerous erect main branches with up to 10 secondary flowering branchlets 2-20 mm long, pubescent with scattered sessile glands intermixed, no infrafoliar ridges. Leaves 4-nate, erect to semi-spreading, 2.0-4.0 x 0.5 mm, oblong to lanceolate, adaxially flat and glabrous, abaxially rounded and sparsely pilose, margins acute-angular, sparsely and long ciliate and with a few glands, narrowly sulcate. Inflorescence: flowers 4-nate in 4-5 whorls, a condensed raceme, terminal on main branches and secondary branchlets; pedicel 0.4 mm long, glabrous; bract non-recaulescent and leaf-like in lowest whorl to partially recaulescent and subapproximate to calyx, ±2 mm long, reducing to 1/2 size in uppermost whorls; bracteoles 2, small, 0.2-0.4 mm long, approximate, bracteose, glabrous, ciliate. Calyx 4-lobed, 2 x 1 mm, cyathiform, obtusely angled alternating with lobes, with thickened ridge along midrib below sulcus, fleshy, glabrous, green to reddish; lobes 0.5 mm long, triangular, subacute, erect, narrowly sulcate for the length of lobe, sparsely ciliate. Corolla 4-lobed, 5.0 x 1.2 mm, elongate tubular, smooth, pink; lobes erect, 0.3 mm long, deltoid, subacute, entire. Stamens 4, free, exserted; filaments just longer than corolla, linear, straight, glabrous; anthers basifixed, subbipartite, oblong-obovate, muticous occasionally with small basal-lateral spurs, dark brown; thecae 1.3 x 0.2 mm, oolong, finely aculeate, spurs when present very short pendulous decurrent along apex of filament; pore 1/3 as long as theca; pollen in monads. Ovary 4-locular, 0.8 x 0.5 mm, ovoid, subacute, 4-lobed, glabrous, with distinct basal nectaries; ovules 1 per locule, pendulous, placenta apical; style just longer than the anthers, glabrous; stigma simple truncate. Fruit indehiscent, 1-1 x 1.0 mm, asymmetrically broadly ellipsoid (depending on the number of fertile seeds), the columella enlarging; pericarp thin and papery, many crystals present; seeds ellipsoid, testa very thin, cells elongate with jigsawed anticlinal walls, with pits.