The short, dark green leaves of Erica unicolor subsp. mutica grow mostly in six vertical arrays up the young stems. The stalkless, narrowly oblong leaves have their margins rolled under, leaving a gap below that shows the white, dense hairiness of the lower surfaces of the leaves.
The leaves soon spread from their initial erect positions. They may drop off fairly early, leaving bare, grey-barked, woody stems lower down.
The upper stems are creamy yellow, soft and hairy, the leaves right at the tip a yellower green (Bond and Goldblatt, 1984; iNaturalist).