Erica sessiliflora

Erica sessiliflora, known as the white bottlebrush heath or sometimes the bottle green heath, and in Afrikaans as groenheide (green heath), is one of the sought-after tube-flowered ericas of the Cape. The erect and woody, branched shrub of more than 1 m in height has small needle-like leaves that point upwards and sometimes curve in. This is an easily recognized species in the huge genus that presents some daunting identification challenges, due to the give-away clue in its retained fruit spikes.

The greenish yellow to white, long and narrow tubular flowers arranged in a dense spike may reach 3 cm in length. They are hairless and narrow, but may become wider close to the mouth than at the base. Flowering may happen all year round, more vigorously from autumn to spring. The sections with knobby protuberances after flowering are the fleshy fruits resembling corncobs. The plant is unlike most Erica species in retaining its fruits in this way for several years.

E. sessiliflora grows in the Western Cape from the Cape Peninsula northwards to Piketberg and the Koue Bokkeveld, eastwards coastally to the west of the Eastern Cape as far as Humansdorp.

The habitat is damp fynbos on flats and up to medium mountain slopes. The habitat population is deemed of least concern early in the twenty first century.

This Erica is a popular garden plant (Manning and Helme, 2024; Manning, 2009; Baker and Oliver, 1967; iNaturalist; www.plantzafrica.com; http://redlist.sanbi.org).