Plants shrubs or trees up to 4(-6) m tall; twigs densely pubescent with short, simple hairs mixed with longer, branched hairs. Leaves linear, 3-5 mm long, in whorls of 3 or 4. Inflorescences laterral racemes, often aggregated; pedicels glabrous. Sepals ovate, glabrous, shorter than the corolla; corollas 2.5-4 mm long, campanulate, white, with erect lobes; anthers included in the corolla, with bsal membranous appendages; ovary glabrous; style exserted, stigmatic region capitate.
Erica arborea grows on rocky slopes, often on limestone, at about 1500 m. It grows in regions N1 and N2 as used in the Flora of Somalia.