Pegolettia baccaridifolia aging flowerheads

    Pegolettia baccaridifolia aging flowerheads
    Author: Ivan Lätti
    Photographer: Thabo Maphisa

    The pale flowerhead of Pegolettia baccaridifolia lacks the much seen lustre so common in its family, the Asteraceae. This is not only because it has no ray florets; the colouring of the sheaf of disc florets is bland, a dull yellow.

    Each erect, tubular floret has five small, pointed petal lobes. The corolla tube bulges before the slight spreading of the lobe tips, the long stamens exserted far for a short period. About three rows of narrow, pointed involucral bracts are visible here, overlapping imbricately around the base of the flowerhead. Upper bracts have some maroon colouring along their margins.

    The purplish upper stems are sparsely leaved and finely hairy; the alternate leaves smooth, hairless (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2010; iSpot).

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