Erica verticillata

Erica verticillata in flower at Kirstenbosch during March. This plant is living testimony of a close shave with extinction that had a happy ending. One day we may care enough about saving endangered plant species for this type of story to be the material for popular movies! 

As it happens, this near death species is comparatively robust that grows easily, mainly from cuttings, today also from seed. Some more delicate ones may not (and in many cases did not) make it for such a story to be told!

The abundant mauve-pink flowers arranged in stepped whorls near the tips of stems bloom from March to May. Pollinators for this plant include wasps, the southern double-collared sunbird and hawk moths (www.plantzafrica.com; www.unep.org).