Cliffortia ruscifolia var. ruscifolia covered in stamens

Many stamens shout from this Cliffortia ruscifolia var. ruscifolia photo. Each male flower has a fairly cohesive group of about twelve of them.

The female flowers either open at a different time avoiding self-pollination, or grow on a different shrub, making this one of the species ambivalent between dioecious and monoecious status.

There is deeper colouring, dark shades of purple, in the anthers than in any other floral parts in picture. The pointed, recurving sepals are pinkish and no petals are present. The thin filaments are also pinkish purple (Curtis-Scott, et al, 2020; Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; Bean and Johns, 2005; Le Roux, et al, 2005).