Low, compact rounded shrub, no more than 15cm high, branches slightly spreading. Leaves are 4-nate and sparsely hairy; 12-20 bell-shaped flowers are arranged in dense, pendent heads at the ends of short drooping branchlets; flowers are pale-pink to cream and tend to hang face down, giving ants the best view! Anthers not exerted and are a pale-yellowish brown.

Pendent habit of this species, with flowers close to the ground, suggests some form of pollination by creeping insects.

Erica ioniana is a highly localised endemic from the Kleinrivier Mountains.

After: Dr Ion James Muirhead Williams (1912-2001) well known Hermanus botanist and collector, who discovered the species in the Vogelgat Nature Reserve.