Erica urceolata (Klotzsch) E.G.H.Oliv.

Erect, slender to densely bushy shrub up to 0.5[-2] m tall, single-stemmed reseeder. Branches: numerous erect main branches continuing vegetative growth with very numerous short flowering secondary branches 10-15 mm long and many shorter flowering tertiary branchlets 1-3 mm long, all densely pubescent with subspreading to spreading hairs, rarely substellate hairs. Leaves 3-nate, suberect, imbricate, 2.0 x 0.3 mm, elongate elliptic or lanceolate to oblong, adaxially rounded but flattened towards the petiole, abaxially rounded, edges rounded but acute towards the petiole, apex acute, sulcus narrow widening towards the base, puberulous densely to sparsely so, rarely glabrous, apex with tuft of longer hairs; petiole adpressed, 0.3 mm long, puberulous, ciliolate and with a few minute sessile glands. Inflorescence: flowers 3-nate in 1(2) whorls, when 2-whorled then umbel-like, terminal on secondary and tertiary branchlets; pedicel 0.1-0.5 mm long, glabrous to puberulous; bract fully recaulescent as abaxial lobe of the calyx, bracteoles 2, fully recaulescent as lateral lobes of the calyx. Calyx unequally 4(3)-lobed, 0.8-1.2 x 0.6 mm, obconic to obovoid, from 1/2 to as long as the corolla, ridged opposite the lobes and hyaline between the ridges, puberulous, rarely glabrous, green; lobes not laterally imbricate, the larger abaxial lobe slightly less fused and slightly longer than others, very variable in degree of fusion from 1/4-3/4 of the calyx, oblong to lanceolate with an acute apex, all narrowly sulcate for 2/3 their length ciliolate. Corolla 4(3)-lobed, 0.7-1.7 x 0.4-0.8 mm, tubular-ellipsoid to obovoid-urceolate, densely pubescent to sparsely so often only in upper half, rarely glabrous, yellowish to white; lobes erect, 1/5 the corolla, triangular, erose or ciliolate. Stamens 3[4], included; filaments free, 0.2-0.3 mm long, linear, straight, glabrous; anthers dorsifixed near base, bilobed, subquadrate, muticous; thecae erect, adpressed, 0.3-0.5 mm long, narrowly elliptic-oblong, glabrous, smooth; pore 1/3 of the theca, placed just above the middle; pollen as tetrads. Ovary 1-locular, 0.4 x 0.15 mm, narrowly ovoid or ellipsoid, with narrow apical beak tapering into the style, glabrous with beak puberulous, no nectaries; ovule 1, pendulous from apical placenta; style distinct, 0.3-0.7 mm long, cylindric, apically villous, occasionally glabrous; stigma exserted, occasionally manifest, 0.3-0.6 mm wide, broadly cyathiform, margins irregularly denticulate, shortly villous basally. Fruit indehiscent, 0.6 x 0.3 mm, narrowly ellipsoid, colliculate with a smooth apical beak; pericarp very thin, papery, yellow-brown, no crystals present; seed ellipsoid with thin testa adhering to pericarp, cells elongate with slightly thickened evenly jigsawed anticlinal walls, few pits. Flowering time: through most of the summer months, but mostly October to December.