Erica strigilifolia hairy flower tips

The tubular and somewhat pendulous flowers of Erica strigilifolia grow in groups of four on short, thick stalks at stem-tips. There are leaf-like, hairy bracts up to the calyces, also leaf-like. The calyx lobes and bracts are consistently narrow in this species, a distinctive feature.

The flower colour is pink or rose, less commonly white or greenish cream. Corollas are slightly inflated in their centre parts and contracting around the throat before the four rounded lobes spread at an angle. The corolla is from 14 mm to 18 mm long. It is finely hairy all over but often conspicuously in its upper part, slightly less than the top half to the lobes.

The dark anthers bearing tails are not exserted; the style may be exserted but isn’t on the plant in picture. The hairy ovary is top-shaped. Flowering happens throughout the year but mostly in spring and summer (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; Moriarty, 1997; Baker and Oliver, 1967; iNaturalist).