Lachenalia canaliculata outer tepals different

Colour variations in Lachenalia canaliculata flowers amount to more here than white on young, green on old and pink-purple at the tepal tip.

The outer tepals are generally darkened in parts, mainly near their acutely pointed tips where a swelling or gibbosity is usually present. The inner tepals growing longer, long enough to curve out near their rounded tips, are unblemished here.

Colour and beauty are clearly benefits reserved for the inner circle, not shared by the lesser ones facing the elements as working members contributing outside. Gibbosities, like calluses, are associated with the working class.

The intact green leaf tips of the plant visible here taper abruptly near the tips, very gradually in the long, strap part lower down (Leistner, (Ed.), 2000; iNaturalist; www.pacificbulbsociety.org).