ERICA FASTIGIATA VAR. FASTIGIATA

Common name: Four-sister Heath

FOUR LITTLE SISTERS

Erica fastigiata var. fastigiata usually carries four flowers at the end of each flowering branch, each with a little pink “mouth” — giving rise to the charming name Four-sister Heath.

Four little flowers, four little sisters, making one very pretty Erica.

DISTRIBUTION & HABITAT

Erica fastigiata var. fastigiata grows where there is seepage. Sometimes it occurs remarkably close to the sea, as on the WWF/Harrison property, where it has formed dense, widespread populations.

You can see them flowering there from around the middle of August. There are also magnificent stands in the Rooiels mountains, wherever there is seepage.

Its range stretches from Jonkershoek through the Hottentots Holland and Kogelberg Mountains to Kleinmond.

There are other varieties elsewhere.

But ours is the prettiest.

POLLINATION

That little pink mouth gives us a clue to its pollination. Moths and butterflies with a long proboscis may be among the visitors able to reach into the flower for nectar and transfer pollen in the process.

The tiny seeds are scattered by the wind.

A CLOSE RELATIVE

Around Hermanus you may encounter Erica fastigiata var. coventryi, which has pointed lobes around the mouth of the flower and looks noticeably different from var. fastigiata around Rooiels.

Conservation status: Least Concern.