Erica strigilifolia hairy flower tips

The tubular somewhat nodding flowers of Erica strigilifolia grow in groups of four on short, thick stalks or nearly stalkless at stem-tips. There are leaf-like, lance-shaped, hairy bracteoles up to the calyces, also leaf-like. The calyx lobes and bracteoles are consistently narrow in this species, a distinctive feature, the sepals fringed with bristles.

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 short, 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 shaggy to bristle-like in its upper half up to the lobes around the mouth.

The eight dark anthers lacking tails are not exserted. The style is concealed as well, its stigma like a pinhead. The hairy ovary is top-shaped.

Flowering happens throughout the year (Manning and Helme, 2024; Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; Moriarty, 1997; Baker and Oliver, 1967; iNaturalist).