Erica vestita new branching

Notable on the Erica vestita flowering stem in the foreground is the corolla tube width expansion in mature flowers over those of still developing buds positioned near them. Some young buds appear darker than open flowers at their peak, while the withered flowers down below are again darker.

There are two younger stems visible on the plant in picture. They bear newly sprouted, stem-tip leaf tufts, spaced at the nodes of otherwise leafless, reddish and faintly whitehaired young stems. A picture of the lower plant parts might here have been informative (Manning and Helme, 2024; Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; Manning, 2009; iNaturalist).