Erica viscaria L.

Corolla longitudinally ridged with very short bristle-like hairs or pustules; tube slightly constricted below spreading lobes, not or rarely obconical to broadly so; ovary obconical, not stipitate, covered with erect dense fairly long, white hairs. This is a very variable species. It is probably the most variable species of Erica with respect to flower colour-white, green, yellowish, pink, purple, red, or combinations of pink with a white mouth or red with a yellow mouth. Some of these colour variants are very striking and showy. The corolla varies in shape and size over a wide range. The indumentum may be almost absent, finely puberulous, strigose, spiculate, strigose from pustules, or markedly pustulate. The flowers may be very viscid, partially so or non-viscid and the plants may be reseeders or resprouters with long to short leaves. Colour is an unsuitable character since this is not retained by older herbarium material and can therefore not be used as a sole distinguishing feature. Corolla length we regard as important in distinguishing subspecies, since the open corolla shape of these taxa coupled with a lower position of the stamens in their flowers would suggest a different pollination syndrome from the bird-pollinated long-flowered variants.