Erica mammosa contorted corollas

These pale pink Erica mammosa flowers were seen east of Hermanus at a fynbos site called Varksnoet. The inflorescence was grown as a stem-tip raceme. Subsequent branching has pushed several newly emerged stem-tips through the ranks of the flowers.

This left the flowers even more unkempt than their lopsidedly inflated and unevenly shaped corolla tubes could achieve on their own. The corollas resemble hungry worms crawling about in search of other food than the available leaves. The mirror was clearly not used before the photo session.

Faint translucence divulges the presence of dark anthers, included in the tubes a little back from the corolla mouths. The open flower mouths are narrower than the tubes, the tiny corolla lobes curving out a little, not impeding pollinator access (Manning and Helme, 2024; Bean and Johns, 2005; Baker and Oliver, 1967; iNaturalist).