''Erica trimera'' is a species of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

. It is a shrub or tree which grows in the mountains of eastern and central Africa.

Description

''Erica trimera'' is an evergreen shrub or tree which grows from .4 to 12 meters in height, with a many-branching habit. It has small leaves, 1 to 7–10 mm long and 0.4 to 1.4 wide, which are generally smooth with tiny hairs along the margins. Flowers grow in clusters of 4 to 12 at branch ends.

Range and habitat

''Erica trimera'' is native to the mountains of Eastern and Central Africa, ranging from

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

through

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

, and the northeastern

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

. It is native to high-elevation areas of the mountains, including the

Ethiopian Highlands The Ethiopian Highlands (also called the Abyssinian Highlands) is a rugged mass of mountains in Ethiopia in Northeast Africa. It forms the largest continuous area of its elevation in the continent, with little of its surface falling below , whil ...

in Ethiopia,

Mount Elgon Mount Elgon is an extinct shield volcano on the border of Uganda and Kenya, north of Kisumu and west of Kitale. The mountain's highest point, named "Wagagai", is located entirely within Uganda.

and

Mount Kenya Mount Kenya (Meru people, Meru: ''Kĩrĩmaara,'' Kikuyu people, Kikuyu: ''Kĩrĩnyaga'', Kamba language, Kamba: ''Ki nyaa'', Embu language, Embu: ''Kĩ nyaga'') is an extinct volcano in Kenya and the Highest mountain peaks of Africa, second-highe ...

in Kenya,

Mount Meru Mount Meru (Sanskrit/Pali: मेरु)—also known as Sumeru, Sineru or Mahāmeru—is a sacred, five-peaked mountain present within Hindu, Jain and Buddhist cosmologies, revered as the centre of all physical, metaphysical and spiritua ...

and

Mount Kilimanjaro Mount Kilimanjaro () is a dormant volcano in Tanzania. It is the highest mountain in Africa and the highest free-standing mountain above sea level in the world, at above sea level and above its plateau base. It is also the highest volcano i ...

in Tanzania, and the

Rwenzori Mountains The Rwenzori (also known as the Ruwenzori, Rwenzururu or Rwenjura) are a range of mountains in eastern equatorial Africa, located on the border between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The highest peak of the Ruwenzori reaches ...

on the border of Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is typically found in the subalpine ericaceous belt, a transitional zone between the

Afromontane The Afromontane regions are subregions of the Afrotropical realm, one of the Earth's eight biogeographic realms, covering the plant and animal species found in the mountains of Africa and the southern Arabian Peninsula. The Afromontane regions o ...

forests and the higher-elevation Afroalpine grasslands and shrublands, from approximately 3000 to 4000 meters elevation. In the ericaceous belt it is often co-dominant with ''

Erica arborea ''Erica arborea'', the tree heath or tree heather, is a species of flowering plant (angiosperms) in the heather family Ericaceae, native to the Mediterranean Basin and Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania in East Africa. It is also cultivated as an o ...

'', and can form dense thickets or low forests.Bussmann, Rainer W. (2006). "Vegetation zonation and nomenclature of African Mountains - An overview". ''Lyonia'' Volume 11(1), June 2006.

Subspecies

Six subspecies are recognized: * ''Erica trimera'' subsp. ''abyssinica'' (Pic.Serm. & Heiniger) Dorr – Ethiopian Highlands in Ethiopia * ''Erica trimera'' subsp. ''elgonensis'' (Mildbr.) Beentje – Mount Elgon in Kenya * ''Erica trimera'' subsp. ''keniensis'' (S.Moore) Beentje – Mount Kenya in Kenya * ''Erica trimera'' subsp. ''kilimanjarica'' (Hedberg) Beentje – Mount Meru and Kilimanjaro in Tanzania * ''Erica trimera'' subsp. ''meruensis'' (R.Ross) Beentje – Mount Meru and

Mount Loolmalasin Mount Loolmalasin or Loolmalassin (''Mlima Lolmalasin'', in Swahili language, Swahili) is a mountain located in the Ngorongoro District of the Arusha Region, Tanzania. It has a peak elevation of above sea level. It is, after Mount Kilimanjaro an ...

in Tanzania * ''Erica trimera'' subsp. ''trimera'' – Ruwenzori Mountains of Uganda and Democratic Republic of the Congo

References

{{Taxonbar, from= Q15384107 trimera Afromontane flora Flora of East Tropical Africa Flora of Ethiopia Alpine flora Plants described in 1895 Taxa named by Adolf Engler