Erica afra flowers

The pale green, downy pedicelled Erica afra flowers grow in short clusters at and near stem-tips, from the upper leaf axils. The silky sepals at the wide corolla bases are narrow, lance-shaped and straight, spreading away from the tubes. They are pale here, contrasting against the much darker green of the leaves. There are tiny, inconspicuous bracts or bracteoles lower down on the pedicels.

The urn-shaped corolla tubes are 5 mm to 6 mm long, the four short, rounded lobes at each flower tip angled out. The flowers are not sticky. The eight stamens are included in the corolla, the anthers tailed or horned at the base. The style ending in a pinhead stigma reaches the corolla mouth. 

Flowering happens from before midwinter to early summer (Manning and Helme, 2024; Marais, (Ed.), 2017; Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; Manning, 2007; iNaturalist).