Erica margaritacea

Erica margaritacea, commonly known as honey-scented heath, is an erect, hairless shrublet producing straight branches that reach heights around 45 cm. The plant forms part of the Orophanes section of the Erica genus.

The linear to lanceolate leaves grow overlapping in whorls of four, ascending on the stems. The keeled leaf is from 3 mm to 5 mm long. The leaves are lime-green in colour.

The species distribution used to be from the Cape Peninsula across the Cape Flats to Stellenbosch and even Caledon, but today there is only a small stand left at the Kenilworth Racecourse.

The habitat is seasonally wet, sandy flats in fynbos and scrub. The habitat population is deemed critically endangered early in the twenty first century, due to habitat destruction from the urban sprawl.

The species resembles E. subdivaricata (Bond and Goldblatt, 1984; Baker and Oliver, 1967; iNaturalist; https://pza.sanbi.org; http://redlist.sanbi.org).