Erica melanthera flowers

The pedicelled or stalked flowers of Erica melanthera commonly grow in two or three groups of three each at the tips of upper side-branchlets in panicles that only appear to be racemes.

The calyx is positioned well back, also pink and sometimes hairy, less than half the flower length and joined together in their lower halves. 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 wide-mouthed flowers have four spreading petals with rounded tips that form an open cup with short tube, pale to deep pink in colour. 

The ovary is hairy and the style exserted beyond the eight, partly exserted black anthers with filaments hidden in the flower tube. The specific name of melanthera refers to the anther colour.

Flowering lasts from winter to midsummer (Manning and Helme, 2024; Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; Baker and Oliver, 1967; iNaturalist; iSpot).