Lapeirousia jacquinii leaves and bracts

Lapeirousia jacquinii leaf margins may be crisped in parts as in picture. They are much longer than the bracts on the flower stalks subtending the purple corollas. Leaf surface ribbing is visible.

The bracts initially overlap closely before the flower stalk elongates and spaces them. The characteristic white bract markings of this species are in view on a few of the bracts in picture.

The bracts are lasting better than the leaves in this photo where the corollas are in advanced stages of decay. Key functions in the flower have now been transferred from corolla to ovary, well covered by its durable bract (Manning, 2007; Manning and Goldblatt, 1997; iNaturalist).