Erica urna-viridis

Erica urna-viridis, sticky heath or in Afrikaans groentaaiheide (green sticky heath), is an erect shrublet reaching about 1 m in height, often taller than the general fynbos of the particular habitat. It bears flowers that are sticky and pale green, especially when young. This Kirstenbosch plant displays fading and faded flowers. The remaining flower does not show the normal pale green but appears just about white. The urn-shape of the green flower earned the plant the self-explanatory specific Latin name of urna-viridis.

Flowering occurs mainly in the first half of the calendar year. The leaves are small, pale green and sparsely scattered along the stems. The plant has to grow from seed after fires, as it is not one of the species with the ability to resprout. It is also susceptible to the abnormal growth of witches’ broom that is more associated with proteas and other plant genera of the area than with ericas.

There is some doubt as to which pollinators serve E. urna-viridis.  Sunbirds and various insects, including some hovering ones with long proboscises, have been observed around the flowers. Some insects also drill or eat their way through the sides of the corolla. No damage to the ovary is apparently caused by this.

E. urna-viridis is a rare plant of restricted distribution in the Cape Peninsula on the Silvermine and Muizenberg Mountains. Although the area is well-known for its large human population, the plant and fynbos in general enjoy enthusiastic protection from many citizens and institutions, both private and public. The smaller the natural domain of a species, the more important non-interference in that area becomes. This plant used to occur on Table Mountain. Although nobody alive "did it", people can't look elsewhere for reasons of its disappearance from there.

The habitat is higher fynbos slopes in sandstone. The habitat population is deemed vulnerable early in the twenty first century, due to range restrictedness 

Growing this plant from cuttings is favoured over using seed, due to the difficulty of getting the seeds from the sticky flower remains (Manning and Helme, 2024; Manning, 2007; iNaturalist; Wikipedia; http://redlist.sanbi.org).

More can be learnt about Erica urna-viridis from an informative article in www.plantzafrica.com.