Pterygodium dracomontanum floral bracts and hoods

The flowers in a Pterygodium dracomontanum inflorescence are all subtended by erect bracts that remain erect throughout the flowering. These pale green blades are slenderly lance-shaped and leaf-like.

They contrast strongly in colour and shape against or with the globose flower bodies themselves. The bracts seem to smooth things among the incongruous blobs sharing the spike with them, were it not for surface granules that negate the suggestion of their smoothness. Or might these granules be the shortest of hairs?

The brown floral hoods, the median sepals topping the flowers, show quilt-like sunken surfaces among veins of varying size in picture. Flower surfaces are usually damp inside the membranes of blades and limbs, while appearing dry on the outside when there’s no rain. The moisture inside is transported by tiny to minuscule veins through blades and limbs. Veins sometimes contribute to flower appearance, possibly detract in some cases and are invisible but present in yet other flowering species. 

Moisture may also, of course, under certain circumstances enter and leave live plant surfaces through pores or stomata and even lenticels, be they on stems, flowers or leaves.