Erica walkeri

Erica walkeri, previously known as E. walkeria, is an erect, branched shrub reaching heights over 1 m. The needle-like leaves grow in whorls of four.

It forms part of the Callista Section of the Erica genus in Baker and Oliver's Erica classification, characterised by stem-tip flowers with narrow tubular or urn-shaped corollas. In the Manning and Helme classification the species is placed with the Small Vase Heaths, plants with smaller flowers, the corollas shorter than 10 mm, hairless and tapering to the mouths, the sepals lance-shaped or needle-like.

The sepals of E. walkeri are elliptic with jagged margins. The corollas have lobes varying in size and the eight anthers are included in the flower tubes.

The species is distributed in the southwest of the Western Cape from Ceres to Du Toit's Kloof and Swellendam.

The habitat is fynbos flats and slopes to high up the mountains. There are two varieties: var. walkeri distributed more widely is commonly known as Swellendam heath and var. praestans. The habitat populations of both varieties are deemed of least concern early in the twenty first century (Manning and Helme, 2024; Bond and Goldblatt, 1984; Baker and Oliver, 1967; iNaturalist; JSTOR; http://redlist.sanbi.org).