Leucospermum gracile flowerhead

    Leucospermum gracile flowerhead
    Author: Ivan Lätti
    Photographer: Thabo Maphisa

    The stem-tip flowerheads of Leucospermum gracile are yellow or pale yellow and top-shaped. The few rows of bracts at the base of the flowerhead are short, attenuating narrowly to their tips. The closed florets in the bud stage, when the head is flat-topped and near cylindrical, may be dark grey and hairy, sometimes orange.

    The released styles of open florets are thin and straight, the pollen presenters small. Old flowerheads may also turn orange, sometimes dull greenish before the brown colour of the dried-out stage appears. Flowerheads are up to 3 cm in diameter. Flowering happens from midwinter to early summer. 

    The specific name, gracile, is derived from the Latin word gracilis meaning slender, referring to the growth habit (Bean and Johns, 2005; Marais, (Ed.), 2017; Bond and Goldblatt, 1984; Andrew, 2017; iSpot).

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