Erica versicolor, an Evanthe

Erica versicolor forms part of the Evanthe section of the Erica genus in the classification by Baker and Oliver (1967). This is one of the 41 sections into which this vast genus has been subdivided to facilitate identification. Evanthe comprises around 40 species, characterised by terminal flowers with tubular corollas that are usually longer than 9 mm.

Manning and Helme placed the plant in a group called Smooth or Sticky Trumpet Heaths, characterised by flowering at the tips of short side-branchlets, sometimes aggregated into false-spikes or -racemes, the corollas sticky, smooth or hairless, sometimes with scattered glandular hairs.

Grouping them according to the similarity of patterns in plant structure provides most welcome support for mastering the complexity of the genus. After a specimen is identified with one of the sections, some challenges still exist, but in a much reduced search area (Manning and Helme, 2024; Manning, 2007; Baker and Oliver, 1967; iNaturalist).