Erica banksii subsp. purpurea

Erica banksii, commonly the green tutu heath, is a sprawling, rounded shrublet, about 60 cm tall. The species comprises three subspecies, viz. subsp. purpurea, subsp. comptonii and subsp. banksii. The flower colours may vary from nearly white, pink or yellowish on corollas with contrasting coloured lobes, e.g. purple or red.

The Erica genus, being a very large one, is subdivided into several sections or sub-genera. E. banksii, previously known as E. banksia, belongs in the section or sub-genus Didymanthera (Baker and Oliver). In another classification this plant is grouped among the sunbird heaths (Manning and Helme).

The leaves of this plant are typically thin and narrow or needle-like as is common among the ericas, known as ericoid. In this species they grow in whorls of three.

Some modified leaves looking like sepals can be seen at the base of the flowers. The upper row of these "sepals" or bracteoles is whitish in colour, ending in light brown tips. The flowers with their unusual corolla tubes occur in pendulous clusters. Subsp. purpurea has white, tubular flowers ending in short purple lobes. It normally blooms through winter until after midspring.

The subspecies distribution is in the Kleinrivier Mountains near Hermanus in the southwest of the Western Cape. The plant in picture was found flowering in Kirstenbosch during March.

This plant grows on fynbos slopes among rocks at varying altitudes. The E. banksii subsp. purpurea habitat population is deemed of least concern early in the twenty first century (Manning and Helme, 2024; iNaturalist; www.biodiversityexplorer.org; www.fernkloof.com; http://redlist.sanbi.org).