Erica whyteana Britten

Subshrub 10– 45(– 90 ) cm high, erect or trailing, sparsely branched; root thick and woody; branchlets red to brown, glabrous, with ridges below the leaves.. Leaves spirally arranged or subverticillate in whorls of (3– )4, patent to appressed, green, often flushed with red, subulate, (3.5– )5– 12 mm long, (0.6– )0.8– 1.5(– 2) mm wide, acute and shortly aristate, glabrous, usually with glandular teeth on the margin; petiole ± 1.5 mm long.. Flowers solitary in leaf axils forming a short leafy spike on the distal 2– 10 cm of branches; pedicel reddish, 2.5– 15 mm long, glabrous; bract leaf-like, 2.5– 5 mm long, in the basal part of the pedicel, sometimes at base of pedicel; bracteoles around the middle of the pedicel, linear, 0.7– 2.5 mm long.. Calyx segments 4, almost free, reddish white or pink, broadly ovate, 1.5– 3 mm long, acute or acuminate, often reflexed (not in our area), with minute glandular teeth along the margin.. Corolla urceolate, pink, often whitish at base, to pinky mauve, sometimes the tips darker, 4– 6 mm long, 2.5– 4 mm in diameter, the mouth about half that diameter, glabrous, lobes 4, obtuse to rounded, 0.8– 1 mm long.. Stamens 8, included, anthers with two aristate basal appendages.. Ovary globose, 1 mm, glabrous; style 2– 3 mm long, glabrous.. Fruit reddish, globose, ± 2 mm, hidden within the persistent flower.. Fig. 3.