Pachypodium lealii flowers and bud

The flowers of Pachypodium lealii grow in few-flowered clusters at or near branch tips. This happens at the end of winter to spring when the tree is leafless.

The tubular flowers are fragrant, opening from long, pointed buds that are covered by five narrow sepals, dull brownish red in colour. The five petals spread around a small, dark mouth, their margins lobed, toothed and crinkled. The white corollas are lush, flushed with pink on the outside. The apical petal lobes are broad and conspicuous, the lateral ones reflexed, not much seen from above in the narrowed lower parts.

Flower diameter is 5 cm to 6 cm, the tube about 2,5 cm long. The flowers are similar to those of P. saundersii (Coates Palgrave, 2002; Frandsen, 2017; Mannheimer and Curtis, (Eds.), 2009; Van Wyk and Van Wyk, 1997).