Erect or rounded shrub to c. 3 m high, stems glabrous. Leaves in whorls of 4, dense and closely overlapping on younger growth, linear, 5–8 mm long, c. 0.7 mm wide, margins acute, entire or denticulate. Flowers solitary in axils of upper leaves, forming terminal clusters of 2–4; bracteoles 3, 3–4 mm long, flesh-pink; sepals 4–5 mm long, strongly keeled and embracing corolla; corolla globose, exceeding sepals by c. 1.5 mm, magenta-pink, lobes rounded, c. 1 mm long, slightly spreading; stamens included in corolla; locules of anthers ± free, c. 1 mm long, each with a wing-like basal appendage as long as the locule. Capsule depressed-globose, c. 4 mm diam. Flowers Aug.–Nov.
VVP, GipP, OtP, EGL, HSF. Also SA. Native to South Africa, commonly cultivated. Known from a few scattered, but locally dense and invasive populations in bushland (e.g. Cobden, Cranbourne, Mornington, The Gurdies, Orbost areas). .
Source:
Walsh, N.G. (1996). Ericaceae. In: Walsh, N.G.; Entwisle, T.J., Flora of Victoria Vol. 3, Dicotyledons Winteraceae to Myrtaceae, pp. 509–514. Inkata Press, Melbourne.
