Erica puberuliflora E.G.H.Oliv.

Erect compact shrublet up to 0.4 m tall, single-stemmed reseeder, rarely multi-stemmed resprouter. Branches numerous erect main branches with numerous flowering lateral branchlets mostly 3 mm long, sometimes lower ones up to 15 mm long, densely white puberulous with spreading hairs, no infrafoliar ridges. Leaves 3-nate, erect, imbricate, occasionally spreading, 2.0-3.0 x 0.5 mm, narrow-elliptic to oblong, both surfaces rounded, margins obtuse to subacute, apex obtuse, narrow-sulcate, glabrous or minutely scabrid, margins with small sessile glands; petiole adpressed, 0.3 mm long, glabrous or puberulous, edged with small sessile glands. Inflorescence: flowers 3-nate in 1 or 2 whorls, when 2-whorled then umbel-like, terminal on main branches and very short secondary branchlets; pedicel 0.1-0.2 mm long, glabrous or puberulous; bract partially recaulescent, approximate to calyx, 0.3-0.5 x 0.1-0.2 mm, oblong, 1/2-1/4 sulcate, mostly bracteose occasionally with leaf-like upper half, puberulous occasionally glabrous, ciliolate with hairs and small sessile glands, pink to green; bracteoles 2, approximate to calyx, 0.1-0.2 mm long, oblong, not sulcate, bracteose, pink, ciliolate. Calyx 4-partite, 0.6-0.8 x 0.5-1.0 mm, obconical, puberulous occasionally glabrous, green; lobes 1/2-2/3 the length of calyx, lanceolate, apex subacute, sulcus small 1/6 the length of calyx (absent when opposite the bract), ciliolate with short hairs and a few sessile glands. Corolla 4-lobed, 1.6 x 1.0 mm, ovoid to broadly tubular, puberulous to pubescent with simple spreading hairs occasionally glabrous, slightly colliculate to smooth; lobes erect, 0.3-0.4 mm long, broadly deltoid, apex subacute, glabrous towards edges, entire. Stamens 4, free, included to manifest; filaments oblong, with sigmoid bend below anther, white, glabrous; anthers dorsally attached near base, oblong-ovate, yellow to light brown, muticous; thecae 1.0 x 0.2 mm, lanceolate, erect, adpressed, apex subacute, smooth; pore 1/2 the length of theca, narrow-oblanceolate; pollen in monads. Ovary 4-locular, 0.4 x 0.4 mm, broad-ellipsoid, 4-lobed, apex broad-obtuse, puberulous on upper half, purple, with no nectaries at base; ovules 1 per locule, pendulous, placenta apical; style exserted, just longer than corolla becoming just under 2x the length of corolla, terete, glabrous; stigma small, cyathiform to peltate in older flowers. Fruit indehiscent; pericarp very hard (splitting along sutures under pressure), exocarp and mesocarp very thin, endocarp very hard and well lignified, several layered; seeds ellipsoid, flattened, testa thin, yellow, cells elongate with jigsawed anticlinal walls, pitted.