Erica parviflora

Erica parviflora, commonly the small-flowered heath in accordance with the plant's Latin specific name, is an erect and variable shrublet reaching about 90 cm in height. The plants have ascending branchlets and numerous short-shoots from them.

In Baker and Oliver's classification the plant belongs in a section called Ephebus, characterised by short terminal flowers that are hairy and have anthers usually included in their urn-shaped corollas. Manning and Helme have it in a cluster called Velvety Heaths in which the corollas are velvety, and the anthers either included or exserted.

The leaves grow in whorls of three or four, sometimes scattered. They are needle-like and covered in short hairs.

The white, pink or magenta flowers grow in groups of three on upper branchlets and aggregated into panicles. The corollas are from 2 mm to 4 mm long. The corolla lobe tips of the small whitish flowers in picture recurve around the mouth that is wide enough for the eight dark anthers to be seen inside. The style and pinhead stigma are also included in the corolla. The specific name, parviflora comes from the Latin, parvus meaning small and flora referring to flowers. Flowering happens from before midautumn to spring. 

The species is distributed from the Cape Peninsula to Wellington and Bredasdorp.

The habitat is fynbos-covered sandstone slopes, flats and streambanks. There are seven recognised varieties of E. parviflora, four of which have habitat populations of least concern early in the twenty first century, the status of the others unclear due to deficient data.

The plant resembles E. intervallaris apart from flower hairiness and leaves not in groups of four (Manning and Helme, 2024; Bean and John, 2005; Bond and Goldblatt, 1984; Baker and Oliver, 1967; Andrew, 2012; iNaturalist; iSpot; http://redlist.sanbi.org).