It is not just animals that are nocturnal, some flowers also come into their own as dusk gathers. Hesperantha radiata is one of these flowers. During daylight hours, the dark red outer petals are closed firmly around the anthers and style. The flowers are almost invisible to a passerby and…
With its central pointed cone of dense black hair, Protea longifolia is one of the easier members of the genus Protea to recognise. The scientific name refers to the long narrow leaves, which are a better diagnostic character as there are other species with black hairy central cones. The leaves…
Grandmothers these days rarely wear bonnets but the idea of a granny’s bonnet is familiar to most people. A piece of lacy cloth wrapped around the head, with a broad rim at the front. The name is used as a common name for a number of plants with hooded flowers.…
Many bulbous plants are stimulated to flower following a fire. However, for many of these plants, they do not require a fire as such but for the surrounding vegetation to be cleared. In which case, while the species may flower most profusely after a fire, individuals can often flower where…
We are all familiar with the large showy flowers of proteas; some like the King Proteas are as large as dinner plates. But there are a range of proteas that are more discrete in their flowering, keeping their flowers tucked away at the base of their stems. These are the…
Hair can be an excellent identifying feature in plants as well as humans (and fortunately, plants don’t go round changing their hair style). It might be the presence or absence of hairs, or even the type of hairs, whether they are long or short, simple or star-shaped, or even glandular…
