The Erica tenella leaves are dark green and needle-like, ascending on the stems.

Longish stalks allow the flowers to nod. The reddish, four-sepalled calyx holds on to the back end of the corolla like a slender bird claw. The ovoid, urn-shape of the bright pink corolla ends in four spreading lobes, their rounded tips slightly recurved. The anthers appear dark inside the corolla, not exserted (Baker and Oliver, 1967).