Osteospermum oppositifolium, the droop of ripening

The straight, erect flowerhead stalk of Osteospermum oppositifolium succumbs as it ages into this U-shaped stance of embarrassment. The weight of dependent offspring signals the absence of food to visiting pollinators, maybe not to big-mouthed browsers.

Once the ray blades drop off as fruiting swells their ovaries, the conspicuous, three-winged fruit-shapes take over as in the photo. Red on the eventually papery wings, they are still yellow and green in the centre where the seed is developing.

Only the ray florets become fruit in the Osteospermum genus, the disc florets providing the pollen. These fruits are from 1 cm to 1,5 cm long (Manning, 2009; Le Roux, et al, 2005; Manning and Goldblatt, 1997).