Pachypodium namaquanum, a bearer of needles

Over-sized, yellow needles among the blooms have to be considered pretty in the sense of the flower garden behind a tall, barbed wire fence. Otherwise Pachypodium namaquanum flowers, prudently positioned on the stem top and surrounded by the tonsure-like arrangement of the plant’s foliage, might be at undue risk.

Producing many flowers within a suitable protective framework optimises the chances of at least some ripe seeds seeing the light of day or the dark of night, whenever the opportune dispersal moment might arrive.

Marketing flowers by colour and fragrance to pollinators triggers the unintended consequence of attracting a myriad of flower nibblers.

Every achievement in the land of the living is accompanied by the addition of new risk: Some foreign party will be there to sense and identify the emerging growth as an opportunity, no matter what the species mix in play on the particular strip of land.

All the living entities on earth collectively can be trusted to adapt for capitalising on every potential survival resource that may be at hand. The winner takes all, losers forced to divert their projects to the most attractive remaining opportunities given what they have become in the efforts expended. And nobody can rest on laurels in the competition ever, as somebody yet undetected is trying still harder (Frandsen, 2017; Le Roux, et al, 2005; Eliovson, 1990; Wikipedia).