Agathosma ovata buds of different stages

Agathosma ovata buds display increasingly more corolla white as they escape from the grasp of the hairy sepals. At this stage the white is only the back or outer surfaces of the petals that are visible.

White or sometimes pinkish spheres of the young buds ensure the incompletely formed stamens and styles mature inside, under cover of the corolla that is redundant and gone by the time of fruiting. Timing is everything in the series of stages of successful blooming.