Erica exleeana

Erica exleeana, sometimes called lollipop heath and previously scientifically Philippia leeana, is a wiry and sticky shrublet reaching heights from 10 cm to 40 cm.

The small, stubby leaves are oblong and very hairy, growing in whorls of three around the stems.

The small flowers grow in few-flowered, stem-tip clusters. They are cup-shaped and very hairy, dull cream to reddish. The styles are conspicuously long exserted, ending in disc-shaped, reddish stigmas. Flowering happens from late winter to after midautumn.

The species distribution is in the southwest of the Western Cape, from the Cape Peninsula to Paarl and the Riviersonderend Mountains, the Kogelberg, the Kleinrivier Mountains and Bredasdorp.

The habitat is dry or moist fynbos slopes and flats. The species is not considered threatened in habitat early in the twenty first century (Bond and Goldblatt, 1984; iNaturalist; https://www.fernkloof.org.za; https://www.worldfloraonline.org; http://redlist.sanbi.org).