Aspalathus acuminata subsp. acuminata flowers

This Aspalathus acuminata subsp. acuminata plant was found blooming at the end of October near the main road between Worcester and Villiersdorp.

The dominant banner petals don’t form hoods at their tips here. Two oblong hollows angle up and outwards from the banner base, paler lemon yellow on the young flower and not turned orange-brown on the older ones.

Both the narrow, up-curving keels and the backs of the banners are velvety with short, pale hairs. The small, hairless wing petals face the banner, their margins turned down.

The bare spine-tips of the whitish branchlets around the flowers make browsers think twice before taking them, safeguarding the seeds to be as best they can (Curtis-Scott, et al, 2020; iNaturalist).