ERICA FASTIGIATA SUBSP. FASTIGIATA

INTRODUCTION

It is very easy to identify Erica fastigiata: four blooms sit neatly together at the end of each flowering branch. They are so pretty, with broad, spreading lobes that are pale pink, almost white, in our Rooiels area.

DESCRIPTION
Then there is that little pink “mouth” on each flower. It is this charming feature that gave rise to the name Four-sister Heath — Vier-susterheide in Afrikaans.

That little mouth is also a clue that moths and butterflies may be among its pollinators.

DISTRIBUTION & HABITAT
We find Erica fastigiata subsp. fastigiata in seepage areas close to the sea, where it can form dense, widespread populations. It flowers from around the middle of August on the WWF/Harrison site and in magnificent stands in the Rooiels mountains wherever there is seepage.

Its range stretches from Bainskloof through the Hottentots Holland and Kogelberg Mountains to Caledon.

A CLOSE RELATIVE
Should you come across an Erica with pointy lobes around Hermanus, you may have found the closely related Erica fastigiata var. coventryi.

So what we have here is four little flowers, four little sisters, making one very pretty Erica.