Melianthus major stipules and buds

The large, united stipules of the large Melianthus major leaf stalk and the flower stem bracts are similarly leafy, but unlike the true leaves of the plant. They are broadly tapering to acutely pointed tips with entire margins and a few small longitudinal channels.

The olive-green beginnings of an inflorescence is in view, subtended by a large, arched bract. At this stage the budding unit consists mainly of straight arrays of floral bracts, each narrow and pointed.

Inflorescences and leaves both dwarf their initially dominant bracts or stipules when all are fully developed (Manning, 2007; Leistner, (Ed.), 2000; iNaturalist).