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Erica afra; photograph Andrew massyn, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SAAndrew massyn, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Erica afra L.

Ericaceae · Cape Provinces, Lesotho +1

English names not checked: Wikidata's common names were not read for this page.

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GBIF's records not checked. GBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked. So this page has no points on its map, no map marker, no habitat climate, no cultivation sheet and no species of nearest climate; the range is Kew's. Not a statement that none exist. How.

Erica afra, photograph Andrew massyn, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsErica afra, photograph Derek Keats from Johannesburg, South Africa, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia CommonsErica afra, photograph Derek Keats from Johannesburg, South Africa, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia CommonsErica afra, photograph Derek Keats from Johannesburg, South Africa, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia CommonsErica afra, photograph SAplants, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsErica afra, photograph SAplants, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons 12 photographs ›

Summary

Erica afra, the water heath, is a species of flowering plant in the genus Erica. It's a small tree, sometimes a shrub, that grows in riparian habitats and on forest edges and occurs from the Western Cape to the Drakensberg of KwaZulu-Natal and Lesotho. The tree's flowers look like bells. The tree's national tree number is 572.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Erica afra", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Not checked: GBIF's records were not asked (why, under the name), and the habitat climate is read only from them, so no sheet is derived.

Climate across the habitat

Not checked. GBIF's records were not asked (why, under the name), and the habitat climate is read only from them, so none is derived here. This is not a statement that no climate exists.

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP.
Records not checked: GBIF's records were not asked, as said under the name.
NativeCape Provinces, Lesotho, KwaZulu-Natal · introduced: Tasmania, New Zealand North · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Kew's description“shrub” · “subtropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedGBIF's records not checked, as said under the name: so there are no points on the map, no map marker and no climate across the range; the range is Kew's. Not a statement that no record exists.

Photographs

Erica afra, photograph 1did not loadErica afra, photograph 2did not loadErica afra, photograph 3did not loadErica afra, photograph 4did not loadErica afra, photograph 5did not loadErica afra, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: Andrew massyn, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Derek Keats from Johannesburg, South Africa, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (3); SAplants, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (2).

Similar habitat climate Not checked: GBIF's records were not asked (why, under the name), and the nearest habitat climates are read from the climate they give.

Other Erica 102 in the reference

Erica abietina Erica abietina Honeysuckle heath Photo: CC BY, Jessica UtrupErica alopecurus Erica alopecurus Foxtail Erica Photo: CC BY, Ren HoekstraErica arborea Erica arborea Tree heath Photo: CC BY, Ксения ВолянскаяErica australis Erica australis Spanish heath Photo: CC BY, Barry StewartErica azorica Erica azorica Azorean Heather Photo: CC BY, Rui RibeiroErica baccans Erica baccans Berry Heath Photo: CC BY-SA, Tony RebeloErica banksia Erica banksia Tutu Heath Photo: CC BY, André DeschodtErica bauera Erica bauera Albertinia Heath Photo: CC BY, Christiaan ViljoenErica blandfordia Erica blandfordia Wax Heath Photo: CC BY, Sarah VisserErica blenna Erica blenna Chinese Lantern Heath Photo: CC BY, Martjie Fia FourieErica bolusiae Erica bolusiae Sand Fynbos Heath Photo: CC BY-SA, Jacques van der MerweErica brachialis Erica brachialis Hairy-tube heath Photo: CC BY, Adele SL all 103 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Ericoides afra. (WCVP, RBG Kew)

IPNIPOWOWikidataWFOWikipedia

The record

Family
Ericaceae
Described by
L.
Native to
Cape Provinces, Lesotho, KwaZulu-Natal
Records
not checked · GBIF's records were not asked: the page has no GBIF key

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
Kew's names (WCVP) kew.names answeredas of 2026-06-04Kew's entry Erica afra L. (plant_name_id 2792822), read from Kew's names file
GBIF species record gbif.species not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
Habitat climate climate not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked, and the habitat climate is read only from them
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22found by Kew's IPNI identifier 328346-1, POWO 328346-1
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild not asked
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked
Wikimedia Commons commons answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence.

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