Pachypodium namaquanum flowers developing

During the early stages of the Pachypodium namaquanum inflorescence the spines are still taller than the developing flowers. The hairy buds are firmly closed with “lips” darkened over the unripe male and female floral parts approaching readiness at various stages, as reflected in bud length.

The leaves form a ring around the flowers in both protective and publicity sense in this plant, a somewhat unusual arrangement.

Cape sugarbirds are known to take part in pollinating P. namaquanum plants introduced at Worcester in the Karoo Desert National Botanical Garden. It is not clear which pollinators perform the task near the Orange River, the Gariep. The malachite sunbird, the lesser doublecollared sunbird and the dusky sunbird do occur in that region and one or more of them might play a role (Mannheimer and Curtis, (Ed.), 2009; Coates Palgrave, 2002; Maclean, 1993; http://pza.sanbi.org).