Moquiniella rubra bud tips turning black

Ant and other pollination service providers (simultaneously also beneficiaries) are checking these Moquiniella rubra buds for readiness to provide food. Judging from the arrival of black tips on some florets there is a chance that the opening of this restaurant is imminent.

The buds are mainly erect, their colouring sufficient for meeting the marketing material standards related to the targeted pollinator population. Bud length is about 43 mm.

The plant is usually palatable and browsed by livestock and game, but when the host plant is poisonous, such as Melianthus comosus, the residing parasite also becomes toxic (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; Leistner, (Ed.), 2000; Shearing and Van Heerden, 2008; iNaturalist).