Erica plukenetii

Erica plukenetii, commonly called brown-tongue heath and hangertjies (little pendants) in Afrikaans, is an erect shrub of up to 1 m in height. The plant was named for Leonard Plukenet, a 17th century English botanist, so there is no directly botanical knowledge about E. plukenetii to be gained from the specific epithet.

The very long-exserted anthers present a clue as to the identity of the species, as does the inflated corolla tube base. The closest resemblance to another species is in E. coccinea that has large bracts lying over the sepals.

The geographical distributions of all five subspecies of E. plukenetii are in the Western Cape, some more restricted than others. This plant flowering dark pink was photographed on Hoy's Koppie in Hermanus during May.

The habitat is coastal and montane fynbos. This species is regarded as the most widespread of the ericas in the western parts of the Cape Floristic Region. The habitat populations of four of the five subspecies are deemed of least concern early in the twenty first century. Only subsp. lineata is considered near threatened (Manning and Helme, 2024; Baker and Oliver, 1967; iNaturalist; http://redlist.sanbi.org).