Freesia occidentalis buds

The Freesia occidentalis buds are arranged horizontally in the usual, one-sided Freesia type spike, no pedicels present. There are green to papery bracts below the buds. The largest bud is lowermost, will be the first to open.

By anthesis, the time when the buds open, the outside tepal surfaces will have swapped green for creamy white; no point in wasting customer time before the grub is ready.

The erect flower stem shows a small bract halfway up its length.

This plant growing in coarse sandy soil, was seen at Kagga Kamma in September (Bond and Goldblatt, 1984; iNaturalist).