Erica vlokii E.G.H.Oliv.

Virgate woody shrub up to 1.5 m tall, single-stemmed reseeder. Branches: numerous, erect, main branches with lateral flowering branchlets 1-10 mm long, canescent with retrorse hairs, no infrafoliar ridges, bark flaking off irregularly. Leaves 3-nate, erect, slightly imbricate, 3 x 1 mm, narrowly elliptic to lanceolate, acute, flattened adaxially, rounded abaxially, acute-angular, narrowly sulcate, glabrous, sometimes very sparsely ciliate and with sessile glands; petiole 0.5 mm long, adpressed, glabrous, ciliate. Inflorescence: flowers 3-nate in 1 whorl, terminal on main branches and on short lateral branchlets or occasionally only on laterals, often recurved; pedicel 1-2 mm long, adpressed, puberulous with reflexed hairs; bract partially recaulescent, approximate to calyx, 1.0 x 0.5 mm, ovate-elliptic, apically 1/3 narrowly sulcate, glabrous, ciliate and with a few sessile glands, membraneous, shiny, pink; bracteoles 2 like bract but more oblong and slightly shorter. Calyx 4-partite, segments 2.0-2.5 x 1.0 mm, rhombic to ovate, apical sulcus 1/3 length of sepal, glabrous, ciliate and with a few sessile glands, glabrous, smooth, membraneous, shiny, pink. Corolla 4-lobed, 3.0-3.5 x 2.0 mm, ellipsoid, slightly colliculate, glabrous, slightly transparent towards the base, pink; lobes erect, 0.5 mm long, broadly rounded, entire. Stamens 8, free, manifest; filaments 2 mm long, glabrous, straight; anthers obovate, muticous or very rarely minutely spurred; thecae 1.0-0.6 x 0.3 mm, oblong-elliptic, straight or falcate, dorsally attached near the base, aculeate, dark brown; spurs minute lateral projections from apex of filament; pollen in monads. Ovary 4-locular, 1 x 1 mm, oblate, subemarginate, glabrous or apically pubescent, with indistinct basal nectaries; ovules 1 per locule, pendulous from apical Placenta; style exserted, up to 2x as long as corolla, glabrous; stigma simple, truncate. Fruit indehiscent, ovoid-ellipsoid, colliculate; pericarp hard with lignified mesocarp and endocarp, crystals present; seeds ellipsoid, testa thin transparent, rugose, cells slightly elongate, with slightly undulate anticlinal walls, with numerous medium-sized pits. Flowering time: July to October but also April in one collection from De Rust.