Erica melanthera flowers

The wide-mouthed flowers of Erica melanthera have four spreading petals with rounded tips that form an open cup, pale to deep pink in colour. The flowers commonly grow in two or three groups of three each at stem tips.

The calyx is positioned well back, also pink and slightly hairy, less than half the flower length. The inconspicuous positioning of the calyx makes the flower corolline, i.e. corolla dominated, the corolla being the principal flower feature. The opposite is also common among Erica flowers: they are called calycine when the calyx largely covers the corolla as the striking flower characteristic.

The ovary is hairy and the style exserted beyond the partly exserted black anthers with filaments hidden in the flower tube. The specific name of melanthera refers to this positioning of the anthers. Flowering lasts from winter to midsummer (Baker and Oliver, 1967; Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2010; iSpot).