Erica salicina E.G.H.Oliv.

Erect, robust, willowy shrub, up to 1.5 m tall, single-stemmed reseeder. Branches: main branches fast-growing with continuous apical growth, secondary branches occasional to numerous but not at every node, 10-50 mm long, mostly terminating in an inflorescence, occasionally with continuous apical growth, tertiary branchlets occasional, internodes short, 1-2 mm long, sparsely puberulous with simple spreading hairs. Leaves 4-nate, subspreading, linear-oblong, 3.0-5.0 x 0.4 mm, rounded in t/s, subobtuse, a few short hairs adaxially, sparsely and shortly ciliate, narrowly sulcate, open at base; petiole ± 0.8 mm long, glabrous, adpressed. Inflorescence: 4 flowers in 1 whorl terminal on secondary, rarely tertiary branchlets, erect; pedicel ± 3.5 mm long, upper half glabrous, lower half with few, short, spreading hairs; bract partially recaulescent ± 1/4 way up pedicel, lanceolate, ± 1.3 x 0.3 mm, glabrous, ciliate, sulcus small, narrow at apex; bracteoles 2, ± half way up pedicel, narrowly lanceolate, ± 0.8 x 0.2 mm, esulcate, glabrous, ciliate. Calyx 4-partite; lobes lanceolate-ovate, ± 1.5 x 0.8 mm, adpressed to corolla, not laterally imbricate, glabrous, ciliate, sulcus in upper 1/3 narrow, pinkish white. Corolla 4-lobed, ovoid, ± 3.5 x 2.0 mm, white to pinkish, glabrous; lobes rounded, ± 0.7 x 0.7 mm, entire, erect to subspreading. Stamens 8, included, free; filaments linear, ± 1.6 mm long, with apical S-bend, thin and delicate, glabrous, white; anthers bilobed, lanceolate in adaxial view, dorsifixed near base, appendiculate; thecae erect, adpressed, ± 0.5 x 0.3 mm, broadly ovate in lateral, view, ± smooth, light brown; appendages pendulous, narrowly oblong, + 0.4 mm long, pilose with spreading hairs; pore ± 1/3 of theca; pollen in tetrads. Ovary 4-locular, broadly ellipsoid to obovoid, ± 1.2 x 1.0 mm, emarginate, glabrous, nectaries around base; ovules ± 30 per locule, spreading from centrally placed placenta; style ± 1.5 mm long, included; stigma capitate. Fruit a thin-walled dehiscent capsule, broadly obovoid, ± 1.4 x 1.6 mm, valves splitting ± 2/3 their length, and to ± 30°, septa on valves only. Seeds ellipsoid, ± 0.6 x 0.4 mm, slightly reticulate, pale yellow-brown, testa thin with elongate cells ± 100 x 50 µm, anticlinal walls finely undulate, inner periclinal walls densely and finely pitted.