Grewia bicolor var. bicolor young and old flowers

The yellow stamens of a Grewia bicolor var. bicolor flower are very slightly taller than the style with its greenish stigma. They cluster around it like a sparse brush.

The petals and sepals, five of each, form two spreading whorls below the stamens. The sepals of each flower are positioned slightly below the petals, exceeding them slightly in length.

Once the flower withers, the sepals take command, closing around the fruiting that starts in the ovary. The rest of the decaying flower remains on top like a lid on the now important process.

The notable reddish brown colouring of old flowers is only present on the inner sepal surfaces, the outer ones are pale greenish cream. The pale green of the flower pedicels match that of the short leaf petioles.

The leaf margins in picture can hardly be called serrated or toothed, rather finely ragged to entire.

There are more pictures and stories on this plant in the Grewia Album elsewhere on this Site (Coates Palgrave, 2002; Pooley, 1993; Schmidt, et al, 2002; Van Wyk and Van Wyk, 1997; iSpot).