Erica afra

Erica afra, commonly called the water heath, in Afrikaans the waterboomheide (water tree heath), and previously scientifically E. caffra, is one of the few ericas that may grow beyond shrub dimensions into a stiff, small tree, reaching heights from 2 m to 4 m (SA Tree List No. 572). The bark is dull grey, becoming fissured on old stems that are often twisted. New branches are slender and numerous on thriving plants. 

The leaves are small, growing in whorls of three, spreading loosely. They are dark green and ericoid, i.e. narrow to needle-like with margins rolled under, showing pale strips on the lower surfaces beside the midribs.

The flowers are medium-sized for Erica, conical or urn-shaped, white or creamy when young. They last long on the plant and turn a rusty brown with age, as on the corolla lobes in picture. 

The species distribution ranges from the Cape Peninsula in the Western Cape in a broad coastal strip through the Eastern Cape to KwaZulu-Natal and inland in the Drakensberg Mountains, the eastern Free State and Lesotho. The photo was taken during October in the Harold Porter National Botanical Garden where some plants stood about 5 m tall.

The habitat is fynbos, along watercourses and montane grassland to altitudes around 1800 m. The habitat populations of both varieties of E. afra are deemed of least concern early in the twenty first century (Manning and Helme, 2024; Manning, 2007; Coates Palgrave, 2002; Pooley, 1993; Baker and Oliver, 1967; iNaturalist; www.plantzafrica.com; http://redlist.sanbi.org).