Othonna perfoliata floral remains

A few discoid flowerheads are grown per inflorescence by Othonna perfoliata, emerging on longish stalks from upper leaf axils. In the photo, the flowering is over, the erect disc florets having turned brown.

The pale green involucral cup has an angular base and a single ring of brown-tipped, oblong bracts, firmly cohering around the developing fruits.

Flowerhead colour as normally seen in the disc florets, may be yellow, dull yellow or white. Flowerhead diameter is about 5 mm. The pappus bristles are usually mauve. Flowering happens in winter, sometimes starting in late autumn and continuing into early spring.

There may be some plants that produce ray florets as well. They apparently bore the name of O. perfoliata while the plants bearing discoid flowerheads used to be called O. filicaulis. Now O. perfoliata is the retained name for both, that is if plants bearing ray florets are really around (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2010; Manning, 2009; Moriarty, 1997; Manning and Goldblatt, 1996; iSpot).