Cyanella alba subsp. flavescens flower

Cyanella alba subsp. flavescens usually produces a solitary, sessile flower on a long, slender and wiry pedicel 9stalk) that grows from the basal leaf tuft. There may be a small bract on the pedicel about halfway up its length. The flower is magnolia-scented.

The six tepals are arranged in two whorls of three each, in lily flower fashion. They are elliptic to obovate in shape and somewhat clawed. The outer tepals are often whiter than the pale-yellow inner ones, all nearly flat to concave or shallowly bowl-shaped.

Outer tepals are more inclined to end abruptly in small pointed tips than the inner ones that tend to be rounded. In picture they are notched, rounded or mutilated, the "normal" growth at most tips for some reason aborted. Longitudinal, curved to parallel vein lines are faint or distinct. Outer tepal surfaces may be greenish or maroon-striped.

Five of the six stamens cohere conspicuously above the flower centre on short, broad-based filaments. Their finger-like, yellow anthers oppose the (bigger) sixth one below, earning the plant (and some other cyanellas) the common name of lady’s hand. A row of red, sometimes brown "knuckles" are sometimes present on the five upper anthers as in the photo.

The long, straight style is skewed to one side. It ends in a tiny, yellowish stigma.

Flowering happens from late winter to after the first half of spring (Manning and Goldblatt, 1997; iNaturalist).