Erica subdivaricata

Erica subdivaricata, sometimes commonly called cup heath, is an erect to spreading shrub or shrublet that reaches heights to 1 m but often less than half that. The sturdy, branched bushes tend to appear untidy.

The species forms part of the Orophanes section of the Erica genus according to Baker and Oliver's classification, a grouping characterised by plants bearing dry, stem-tip flowers in fours or scattered. The variously shaped corollas are mostly shorter than 5 mm but the anthers are included and the leaves grow in whorls of four. Manning and Helme has this plant among the Florists' Heaths with small, cup-shaped, hairless flowers between 2,5 mm and 4 mm long and four-whorled leaves.

The species distribution is in the Western Cape from the Cape Peninsula to Malmesbury and Worcester, Bredasdorp and the Agulhas Plain.

The habitat is lower fynbos slopes and flats. The habitat population is deemed of least concern early in the twenty first century (Manning and Helme, 2024; Marais, (Ed.), 2017; Bean and Johns, 2005; Bond and Goldblatt, 1984; Kidd, 1983; iNaturalist; http://redlist.sanbi.org).