About leafless at the top of the scrambled mass of stems, buds, flowers and developing fruit, Lobelia linearis, is a resprouter and capable of robust growth, capitalising from a developed root system that speeds up plant growth.
Seen here during March in the Kogelberg, the rod-like stems crisscross in a lax manner, allowing sunlight to penetrate into the body of the plant, possibly reaching (some of) the narrow leaves found lower down on the plant (Manning, 2007; Bond and Goldblatt, 1984).