Erica densifolia many flowers

Erica densifolia is one of the generously flowering ericas of the Langkloof. This plant was seen in January on a fynbos mountain slope near the farm Many Waters.

The red tubes are densely clustered, ostensibly in a raceme-like structure, but most flowers are at the tips of their own, short side-branches. Flowering was here more intense on young plants in a recently disturbed road-reserve than on mature plants in the old fynbos further away.

The red colouring, sometimes a bit paler or pinkish, may also be orange-red; here a dark red. The corolla-tips described by Baker on the Robinson Pass were green, here in the Langkloof these are pale yellow (Baker and Oliver, 1967; Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015).