Shrub about 50 cm tall. Leaves 2-4 mm long in 3s. Flowers hanging in small groups at the ends of the branches. Sepal green or red, petals 3-4 mm long in a cup-shape. Anthers black with the style protruding; mostly spring.
S Africa (S Cape)
Plants of this species are generally available under the name E. melanthera L. under which the cultivars noted under the cultivar tab are often listed.
Improved Variety Dwarf, compact habit with small leaves. Flowers lavender to purple and extremely prolific. A hybrid of Australian origin but unlikely to be related to the above species. An illegitimate name.
Source: (1997). Ericaceae. In: . Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 2. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 1. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.
Erica canaliculata 'Ruby Shepherd'
Compact shrub. Flowers deep reddish pink.
Compact shrub growing to 40 cm tall with few flowers. Flowers about 1.5 cm long, pink and tubular.
A compact shrub to 1 m tall with minute leaves and smothered with small flower bells that vary from pink to white.
A sport of the improved form of E. melanthera disovered in 1980.
