Leucospermum cordifolium budding early days

In this budding Leucospermum cordifolium flowerhead the individual florets still hold their unelongated styles neatly in place, that means fully covered inside each intact perianth. The pollen is growing and ripening there on the insides of the pointed perianth segment tips where the anthers reside. They surround the style in each floret, yet to appear and act first as pollen presenters, later as stigmas. This happens once the pincushion flowerhead has fully opened, becoming a spectacular inflorescence.

The early floral stage in picture compares in humans to prepuberty. That is when little or no rebellion against parental control, not yet deemed to be repression, is found in child behaviour. The small child household is often orderly or comparatively so, minds not overly burdened by child initiated home events but that varies according to parental mindset. By comparison, the youthful florets stand here in perfect, artistically curved rows, as if formed up in primary school style before lessons, teacher minds largely unperturbed.

Right on top of the flowerhead, still unseen florets are due to appear for completing the picture. More of them may push away the hairy, acutely pointed, attenuating bracts, and add more rings of perianth tips. Or they may never appear, depending on the available flow of the juices (Manning, 2007; Leistner, (Ed.), 2000; iNaturalist).