Ledebouria mokobulanensis flowers

The flowers of Ledebouria mokobulanensis grow in a short, compact raceme on fleshy pedicels of about 6 mm, concurrently with the leaves. From 10 to 40 flowers form an inflorescence and there may be two per plant. Tiny triangular bracts of up to 1,5 mm long are present.

Barrel-shaped mauve or lilac buds cohere erectly in the centre of the inflorescence before they open, the uppermost or central ones last. The inflorescence is less than 6 cm tall. The star-shaped open flowers spread their oblong tepals, based in a short tube and ending in rounded to bluntly pointed tips.

The stamens emerge from the petal bases, the ripe anthers are yellow. The filaments diverge from below the green, stalked ovary. The ovary is superior, globose and six-lobed.

Flowering happens late in winter and early in spring (Hankey and Edwards (2008): Ledebouria mokobulanensis, a new species from the high altitude grasslands of Mpumalanga. SA Journal of Botany 74(2), pp 214-217; iNaturalist; http://pza.sanbi.org; http://redlist.sanbi).