Pteronia incana climbers nightmare

Insects negotiating the feathery to broom-like bristles of Pteronia incana fruit in search of floral food, may find the experience similar to swimming on a brush. The bristles growing in two circular rows are slightly taller than the newly exserted floral parts, the stamens and styles.

This terrain might complicate matters for the beetle, but the walking-across-the-private-parts-of-your-host technique, common among insect visitors, has worked for pollinating untold generations of flowers of many kinds. The new stem-tip growth in picture is markedly yellower than the leaves, probably more buds arriving (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; Manning, 2007; Manning and Goldblatt, 1997; iNaturalist).