From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

Erica abietina

Species of flowering plant

Summary

Species of flowering plant

Erica abietina, the honeysuckle heath, is a species of erica that is endemic to the Cape Peninsula of the Western Cape, South Africa. E. abietina includes four subspecies with often highly restricted distributions and distinctive flower colours. Previous delimitation of the species has included a further three subspecies which proved to be more distantly related to Cape Peninsula endemic E. abietina subspecies and are now classified under Erica grandiflora L.f. (Erica abietina subsp. aurantiaca E.G.H.Oliv. & I.M.Oliv.; Erica abietina subsp. perfoliosa E.G.H.Oliv. & I.M.Oliv.) and Erica situshiemalis E.G.H.Oliv. & Pirie.

Subspecies

Erica abietina subsp. abietina (or the red heath) is restricted to the Peninsula Sandstone Fynbos on Table Mountain, Cape Town. It produces rich-red flowers and grows up to about 1.5 m in height.
Erica abietina subsp. atrorosea E.G.H.Oliv. & I.M.Oliv. (or the wine-red heath) is found only in the southern parts of Peninsula Sandstone Fynbos on the Cape Peninsula, Cape Town. It produces pinkish-purple flowers and grows up to about 1 m.
Erica abietina subsp. constantiana E.G.H.Oliv. & I.M.Oliv. (or the Constantiaberg heath) is restricted to the Peninsula Sandstone Fynbos in the middle of the Cape Peninsula between Constantiaberg and Chapmans Peak. It forms a small, dense shrub with bright pink flowers.
Erica abietina subsp. diabolis E.G.H.Oliv. & I.M.Oliv. (or the devils heath) Critically endangered

This plant grows very easily and well in urban capetonian gardens and is increasingly popular as an ornamental plant.

Gallery

Image:Erica_abietina.jpg|Flowering specimen of E. abietina ssp. abietina Image:Erica abietina ssp. atrorosea.jpg|Flowering specimen of E. abietina ssp. atrorosea, in Table Mountain National Park, Western Cape, South Africa Image:Erica abietina ssp. diabolis.jpg|Flowering specimen of E. abietina ssp. diabolis, in Table Mountain National Park, Western Cape, South Africa Image:Red fynbos flower.jpg|Close up image of E. abietina, Cape area, South Africa.

References

"Honeysuckle heath - Encyclopedia of Life".
(2017). "Underestimated regional species diversity in the Cape Floristic Region revealed by phylogenetic analysis of the Erica abietina/E. viscaria clade (Ericaceae)". Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society.
(2002). "The genus Erica (Ericaceae) in southern Africa: taxonomic notes 1". Bothalia.
"''Erica abietina'' L. subsp. abietina". SANBI.
"''Erica abietina'' L. subsp. atrorosea E.G.H.Oliv. & I.M.Oliv.". SANBI.
"''Erica abietina'' subsp. ''constantiana'' E.G.H.Oliv. & I.M.Oliv.". SANBI.

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

erica-(plant) endemic-flora-of-the-cape-provinces plants-described-in-1753 botanical-taxa-named-by-carl-linnaeus

Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about Erica abietina — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report