Pachypodium saundersii flower

The white flower cymes of the kudu lily appear in autumn at branch tips. The buds are in the shape of long tubes bulging at the base and also in the middle where the lobes will spread outside the corolla mouth upon opening. The outside petal surfaces in bud are purple. The white open petals retain the purple tinge on the lower surfaces that were exposed in bud.

In this photo a faint purple margin on the left margins of the inside, upper surfaces of the five petal lobes appear as well. This is not always seen. The open flower has a spiralling appearance from the asymmetric, wavy petal lobes. Stamens and style don’t protrude from the flower mouth. The flowering season extends from mid-autumn into winter (Letty, 1962; Manning, 2009; Germishuizen and Fabian, 1982).