Plants of the Week

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E.g., 03/12/2023

Erica taxifolia

Erica taxifolia foliage
Common names: yew-leaved heath
Family: Ericaceae

With its showy, bright pink, late summer flowers Erica taxifolia is a colourful addition to the fynbos garden, rockery or patio....

14 / 02 / 2011 | Alice Notten | Kirstenbosch NBG
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Erica peziza

Erica peziza (Andrewm iSpot)
Common names: woollysnow heath, velvet bell heath, white heath (Eng.); kapokkie (Afr.)
Family: Ericaceae

A beautiful fynbos shrub that turns snowy white when it flowers in spring....

28 / 12 / 2015 | Nomama Mei | Kirstenbosch NBG
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Erica triflora

Erica triflora shrub
Common names: bearded tree heath, three-flower erica (Eng.); baardboomheide (Afr.)
Family: Ericaceae

Erica triflora has been in cultivation for a long time and appears on a list of heaths that were cultivated by Messrs Lee and Kennedy at Hammersmith,...

18 / 10 / 2010 | Anthony Hitchcock | Kirstenbosch NBG
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Erica turgida

Flowers of Erica turgida
Common names: Kenilworth heath
Family: Ericaceae

Erica turgida is an erect, bushy plant 300-400 mm high, with slender, willowy and slightly hairy branches. ...

01 / 12 / 2003 | Anthony Hitchcock | Kirstenbosch NBG
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Erica urna-viridis

Flowers of Erica urna-viridis: Photo: P Swart
Common names: green sticky heath (Eng.); groentaaiheide (Afr.)
Family: Ericaceae

Erica urna-viridis is a very unusual erica as it produces green sticky flowers. This is a very unusual colour in the Cape Flora....

27 / 05 / 2002 | Anthony Hitchcock | Kirstenbosch NBG
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Elephantorrhiza burkei

Elephantorrhiza burkei (Geoff Nichols)
Common names: elephant-root, sumach bean (Eng.); basboontjie, basbos (Afr.) lesitsane (Northern Sotho); mositsane, mosidi, mosidi-godimo, mosidi-mogolo (Tswana), ts
Family: Fabaceae

This low -growing tree boasts fragrant, creamy white to yellow flowers in early summer and can also be successfully grown in a container, as it has a non-aggressive...

18 / 09 / 2017 | Benjamin Festus | Kirstenbosch NBG
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Erica ventricosa

Erica ventricosa
Common names: wax heath, washeide, porcelain heath, Franschhoek heath, Franschhoekheide
Family: Ericaceae

Erica ventricosa, with its exquisite flowers and dense, compact habit, is one of the most attractive of the Erica species. ...

19 / 11 / 2001 | Anthony Hitchcock | Kirstenbosch NBG
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Euphorbia umfoloziensis

Euphorbia umfoloziensis
Common names: Umfolozi euphorbia (Eng.); (some euphorbias are commonly known as umhlonhlo in isiZulu)
Family: Euphorbiaceae

In a hot river valley in northern KwaZulu-Natal, this rare, spiny, dwarf succulent can be found. It has only ever been recorded from this one river valley....

28 / 03 / 2022 | Nokukhanya Nozipho Mhlongo | TSP
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Erica verticillata

Erica verticillata Belvedere in the Erica garden at Kirstenbosch
Common names: whorled heath, marsh heath
Family: Ericaceae

How could a plant as hardy and strikingly beautiful as Erica verticillata have been allowed to reach the precipice of extinction? Fortunately the story...

04 / 02 / 2013 | Anthony Hitchcock | Kirstenbosch NBG
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Erica patersonii

Erica patersonia
Common names: mielie heath (Eng.); mielieheide (Afr.)
Family: Ericaceae

This is one of a number of erica species that are threatened by urban expansion and farming practices....

16 / 06 / 2003 | Anthony Hitchcock | Kirstenbosch NBG
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Eucomis sonnetteana

Eucomis sonnetteana
Common names: Morgenzon pineapple lily
Family: Hyacinthaceae

This jewel of Mpumalanga is one of the dwarf pineapple lilies, so named, because their flowerheads resemble a pineapple. This one is a recently discovered...

11 / 04 / 2022 | Dineo Dibakwane | Walter Sisulu NBG
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Eriocephalus africanus

Eriocephalus africanus
Common names: wild rosemary (Eng.), wilderoosmaryn, kapokbos (Afr.)
Family: Asteraceae

Wild rosemary is one of the shrubs that most people in the Cape know because it is so common in the veld and easy to identify with its thin, grey leaves,...

11 / 06 / 2001 | Liesl Van der Walt | Kirstenbosch NBG
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Eriocephalus

Eriocephalus
Common names: wild rosemary (Eng.); kapokbos, wilderoosmaryn (Afr.)
Family: Asteraceae

Highly aromatic shrubs which are most distinctive when covered in fluffy white fruiting heads from late spring to early summer. Thus the vernacular name, kapokbos (Afrikaans...

22 / 10 / 2012 | B Busch | Compton Herbarium
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Elytropappus rhinocerotis

This plant is now called Dicerothamnus rhinocerotis....

25 / 09 / 2006 | | Compton Herbarium
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Erythrophysa alata

Red nectar producing flowers of E. alata
Common names: Namaqua red balloon (Eng.); Namakwa-rooiklapperbos, mannetjie-roldoring, kloe-kloekie (Afr.)
Family: Sapindaceae

The intensely red flowers of this small rigid tree are unlike those of any other small tree from Namaqualand....

13 / 12 / 2010 | Werner Voigt | Harold Porter NBG
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Erythrina caffra

Erythrina caffra (Alice Notten)
Common names: coast coral tree (Eng.); kuskoraalboom (Afr.); umsinsi (Zulu); umsintsi (Xhosa)
Family: Fabaceae

Erythrina is known as the red genus, and E. caffra is widely loved for its warm red to scarlet-coloured flowers, which appear from...

16 / 10 / 2006 | Werner Voigt | Kirstenbosch NBG
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Erythrina acanthocarpa

Erythrina acanthocarpa
Common names: Tambookie Thorn, Tambuki Thorn (Eng.), Tamboekiedoring, Tamboekiewortel, Wag-'n-Bietjiedoring (Afr.)
Family: Fabaceae

This is a very attractive shrub with striking red and green flowers....

03 / 09 / 2001 | Sharon Turner | Walter Sisulu NBG
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Erythrina humeana

Erythrina humeana
Common names: dwarf coral tree (E), kleinkoraalboom (A), umsinsana, ikati (Z), umsintsane, umsintsi, utambuki (X), umdvumbula (S), mokhupye (NS)
Family: Fabaceae

The dwarf coral tree is an ideal tree or shrub for the small garden, especially for people who love the scarlet flowers of the common coral tree (Erythrina...

15 / 01 / 2001 | Andrew Hankey | Walter Sisulu NBG
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Erica vernicosa

Erica vernicosa
Common names: varnished heath (Eng.), vernisteheid (Afr.)
Family: Ericaceae

...

30 / 05 / 2022 | Benjamin Festus | Kirstenbosch NBG
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Erythrina latissima

Erythrina latissima
Common names: broad-leaved coral tree (Eng.); breëblaarkoraalboom, grootblaar (Afr.); umnqwane, umsintsi (Xhosa); umqwabagqwaba, umqongqazi (Zulu); mokhupye (North
Family: Fabaceae

This most unusual of the South African Erythrina species is an interesting tree with major bird-attracting potential....

01 / 01 / 2007 | B Tarr | KwaZulu-Natal NBG
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