Erica bauera two-toned

These clusters of pendulous Erica bauera flowers, spaced with the leaves along a ridged brown stem, were photographed on a garden specimen. Densely flowering racemes are commonly seen on upper stems of these shrublets, a little below the stem tips.

The flowers grow from leaf axils on peduncles of about 6 mm in length, allowing them to nod. Small rounded bracts are present near the base of the peduncles, remote from the flowers. Corolla-coloured short sepals with acutely pointed tips clasp the back end of each flower.

The corolla tube is inflated and oblique, slightly asymmetrical and narrowing before its mouth. These tubes vary in length between 1,6 cm and 2 cm, ending in short, rounded lobes (Baker and Oliver, 1967; Bond and Goldblatt, 1984).