Erica abietina subsp. constantiana

Erica abietina subsp. constantiana, commonly Constantia heath and previously scientifically E. conica, is a sturdy, upright shrub that grows to 40 cm, branching from a single woody stem. The leaves are threadlike, ascending or spreading from the stems, curving upwards near the tips.

The plant produces short, rose-pink flowers clustered in leaf axils near stem tips. Flower tubes vary between 8 mm and 11 mm in length, widening towards their mouths in cone-shaped fashion, pointing sideways. The anthers visible among the pointed to rounded corolla lobes are dark in colour. Flowering happens mainly from winter to spring, although the specimen in picture was flowering in March, maybe all year round.

The plant occurs on the Constantiaberg and centrally in the Cape Peninsula from Orange Kloof and the Twelve Apostles to Noordhoek and Tokai, south of Table Mountain.

The habitat is mountainous, sandstone fynbos. The habitat population of the subspecies is deemed rare but stable early in the twenty first century.

The subspecies features in horticulture, mainly in the winter rainfall area (Manning and Helme, 2024; iNaturalist; iSpot; https://pza.sanbi.org; http://redlist.sanbi.org).