''Erica cerinthoides'' is a species of heath native to South Africa (the Cape Provinces, the Free State,

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN and known as "the garden province") is a province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu) and Natal Province were merged. It is locate ...

, the Northern Provinces),

Lesotho Lesotho ( ), officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a country landlocked country, landlocked as an Enclave and exclave, enclave in South Africa. It is situated in the Maloti Mountains and contains the Thabana Ntlenyana, highest mountains in Sou ...

and

Eswatini Eswatini ( ; ss, eSwatini ), officially the Kingdom of Eswatini and formerly named Swaziland ( ; officially renamed in 2018), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by Mozambique to its northeast and South Africa to its no ...

. Common names include fire erica, fire heath, red hairy heath, rooihaartjie or klipheide. Throughout its range the species shows marked variation in habit, flower characteristics and hairiness. A form with white flowers is found in

and the South African province of

Mpumalanga Mpumalanga () is a province of South Africa. The name means "East", or literally "The Place Where the Sun Rises" in the Swazi, Xhosa, Ndebele and Zulu languages. Mpumalanga lies in eastern South Africa, bordering Eswatini and Mozambique. It ...

while the variety ''E. cerinthoides'' var. ''barbertona'' has shorter flowers.

Description

''Erica cerinthoides'' is a variable plant over different parts of its range, varying in habit of growth, the hairiness of the leaves and the flowers, and the colour, size and shape of the flowers. Where it remains unburnt it can be a straggly bush over tall, bare of leaves apart from a few extremities, and producing few flowers. Elsewhere it can be a compact small plant covered in blooms.

Etymology

The Latin

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

''cerinthoides'' means "resembling honeywort ('' Cerinthe'')". The flowers bear a superficial resemblance to flowers of that genus in the family Boraginaceae, though it is only distantly related.

Distribution and habitat

''E. cerinthoides'' is endemic to southern Africa. Its range extends from the

Cedarberg Mountains The Cederberg mountains are located near Clanwilliam, approximately 300 km north of Cape Town, South Africa at about . The mountain range is named after the endangered Clanwilliam cedar (''Widdringtonia wallichii''), which is a tree end ...

in the Western Cape to the

Eastern Cape The Eastern Cape is one of the provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, but its two largest cities are East London and Gqeberha. The second largest province in the country (at 168,966 km2) after Northern Cape, it was formed in ...

, Transkei, and Drakensberg, as well as

, Lesotho and Eswatini. Its northernmost limit is the Soutpansberg in the province of Limpopo. It grows in various habitats, from sea level to high mountains. It sprouts readily from the woody rootstock after fires which enables it to thrive when other vegetation is destroyed. Fire seems to stimulate flowering, and bushy plants of ''E. cerinthoides'' can be seen in flower against a blackened landscape.

Cultivation

''E. cerinthoides'' requires a position in full sun with good drainage, and acidic soil. It is frost sensitive, but can regrow following damage. Plants can be propagated from cuttings of current season's growth with a heel of older wood. They can also be grown from seed. In the UK it has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's

Award of Garden Merit The Award of Garden Merit (AGM) is a long-established annual award for plants by the British Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). It is based on assessment of the plants' performance under UK growing conditions. History The Award of Garden Merit ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Erica Cerinthoides cerinthoides Flora of Lesotho Flora of the Cape Provinces Flora of the Free State Flora of KwaZulu-Natal Flora of Swaziland Flora of the Northern Provinces Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus