Erica vestita in the Overberg

The tallest or rather the highest positioned of these Erica vestita summer flowers would see the Overberg town of Caledon in the distance if they had eyes.

Most flowers are at the stem-tips, although some stems have already started growing beyond the seasonally sprouted inflorescences, en route to next year’s new events. Below the colourful flowers similarly shaped dark ones are visible. They were the earlier ones, the still persistent corolla tubes of spent flowers. By now they are growing seeds in their ovaries below.

The lush green, long and thin leaves around the flowers add festive colouring. The flowers of this Erica are pretty, but it is the shimmer in the plant's leaf covering that brought it the common name of trembling heath (Manning and Helme, 2024; Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; Manning, 2009; iNaturalist).