Compilation
Erica purpurea

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Name

Identification
Erica abietina L. [family ERICACEAE ] (stored under name); Verified by HBG-formal name change, 2010 Erica purpurea Andrews [family ERICACEAE ] Verified by Not on sheet,
Related name
  • Blaeria purpurea
  • Erica purpurea
  • Erica phylicifolia
  • Erica abietina
  • Erica acutifolia
  • Erica pinea
  • Erica argentiflora
  • Erica unrecorded
  • Erica coccinea
  • Erica vestita

Flora

Entry for ERICA purpurea Andr. [family ERICACEAE]
Herbarium
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (K)
Collection
Flora Capensis
Resource Type
Reference Sources
Entry From
Flora Capensis, Vol 4, page 2, (1909) Author: By H. BOLUS, F. GUTHRIE, and N. E. BROWN.
Names
ERICA purpurea Andr. [family ERICACEAE], Col. Heaths, t. 50;—Andr. Heathery, t. 81; Wendl. Eric. Ic. fasc. 15, 39, t. 15; Benth. in DC. Prodr. vii. 627.
ERICA phylicæfolia Salisb. [family ERICACEAE], in Trans. Linn. Soc. vi. 364.
ERICA formosa Andr. [family ERICACEAE], Heathery, t. 114, and Col. Heaths, t. 94, not of Thunb.
ERICA Salisburia Andr. [family ERICACEAE], Heathery, t. 288, and Col. Heaths, t. 271.
ERICA pinea Lodd. var. purpurea [family ERICACEAE], Bot. Cab. t. 1259, not of Thunb., nor of Wendl.
ERICA acutifolia Bartl. [family ERICACEAE], in Linnæa, vii. 651?
ERICA rigidiuscula Wendl. ex Klotsch [family ERICACEAE], in Linnæa, ix. 647.
ERICA coccinea Thunb. Herb. ex Rach var. a [family ERICACEAE], in Linnæa, xxvi. 774.
ERICA superba Sweet [family ERICACEAE], Hort. Brit. ed. 2, 340.
Information
erect, virgately branched, 2–3 ft. high; leaves sub-6-nate, erect-incurved or erect-spreading to squarrose, linear, acute, glabrous, 4–7 lin. long; flowers verticillato towards the end of the branches; pedicels about 1 lin. long; bracts subapproximate to subremote, linear, acute, scarious, 1 1/2 lin. long; sepals lanceolate or linear-lanceolate, acuminate, foliaceous above, submembranous below, glabrous, about 3 lin. long; corolla clavate-tubular, curved, glabrous, dry or viscidulous, red or red-purple, 10–12 lin. long; anthers subexserted, lateral, oblong, muticous, pallid, pore more than half the length of the cell, about 1 lin. long; ovary cylindrical, longer than wide, often or always shortly stipitate, glabrescent. null
Distribution
CENTRAL REGION Ceres Div.; Cold Bokkeveld, Schlechter, 8878!COAST REGION frequent, ascending to 3500 ft.: Cape Div.; region of Cape Town, &c., Thunberg, Burchell, 455! Niven, 179! Drège! Bolus, 4475! 4516! Wilms, 3439! MacOwan, Herb. Norm. Aust.-Afr., 192! Stellenbosch Div.; Hottentots Holland, Mulder! Lowrys Pass, Galpin, 3526! Also cultivated specimens!
Notes
Allied to E. coccinea and E. annectens, from either of which it may be distinguished by the sepals. The best figure of the plant, as known to us in its wild state, is Andr. Heathery, t. 114. Mr. G. F. Scott-Elliot observes of this species: “I have often seen the flowers visited by Nectarinea chalybea [a species of ‘sugar-bird’] at Wynberg Butts and Muizenberg, Owing to the upward curvature the bird has to seize the branch above the flowers and suck them head downwards. This is an advantage to the flower, as self-fertilization is quite impossible, while in E. Plukeneti it must occasionally happen.” (Ann. Bot. iv. 270.)

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