Erica tenella is an erect, shrub with hairy, pale grey branches growing to 45 cm. The specific name, tenella, means slender or flexible and small, probably referring to the growth form of the plant. The linear leaves grow in fours, ascending to spreading, grooved and keeled. They are short and bright green in the photo.

A brightly pink flowering form of this plant grows abundantly in Fernkloof. The plant‘s distribution is in the Western Cape from around Paarl to Bredasdorp where the plants grow on fynbos slopes (Baker and Oliver, 1967).