Orbea hardyi flower spots and shades

The five corolla lobes of the star-shaped Orbea hardyi flower are triangular with tips that attenuate and curve, sometimes giving the flower an appearance of rotating.

In picture, the pale cream lobes have less of the dark red, liver-coloured blotches than the flower centre where these markings change shape, size and colour into squiggly organic forms.

The notches in the sinuses on the corolla margin between lobes is in one of the five instances replaced by an unusual, long, secondary tip or tooth on the flower in picture. The outer margin of the annulus, near the moat before the corolla cup ascends into the lobes, is dark maroon, not spotted but uniformly coloured in this flower. A few, tiny hairs can be detected on the margins between the lobes.

In the centre of the annulus, the tiny outer corona with yellow, spreading and ascending lobes encircles the inner corona. The erect and diverging lobes of the inner corona forms a dark tuft appearing hairy (Hardy and Fabian, 1992; Germishuizen and Fabian, 1982; http://llifle.com; www.succulent-plant.com).