Erica verticillata

Erica verticillata, commonly the whorled heath, is an erect shrub that grows to heights around 1,5 m. Extinct in nature, it flowers here at Kirstenbosch during March. This plant is living testimony of a close shave with extinction that had a happy ending. One day we may care enough about saving endangered plant species for this type of story to be the material for popular movies! 

As it happens, this near death species is comparatively robust. It grows easily, mainly from cuttings, today also from seed. Some more delicate ones may not (and in many cases did not) make it for such a story to be told!

The needle-like leaves grow in whorls from four to six around the upper stems.

The abundant mauve-pink flowers arranged in stepped whorls near the tips of short side-shoots bloom from before midsummer to autumn. The corolla tubes are slightly curved and faintly hairy, up to 2 cm long. Pollinators for this plant include wasps, the southern double-collared sunbird and hawk moths (Manning and Helme, 2024; www.plantzafrica.com; www.unep.org; http://redlist.sanbi.org).