Pachypodium lealii flowers tended by robust spines

This Pachypodium lealii stem-tip flower cluster still includes some missile-shaped buds. They are faintly downy on their purple and pale cream outer surfaces; behind them ample quantities of long straight spines diverge in pairs or trios from small cushioned bases.

The buds are nearing the point of exploding into white corollas that won’t be missed by pollinators-all-sorts against the greyness of the surrounding landscape.

Shape and colour differences between funnel-shaped bud and crinkle-petalled flower leave no ambiguity as to where the open flowers await for rewarding their visitors. Enhanced by flower fragrance, the attraction of the white colouring probably also works at night on moths and their ilk (Mannheimer and Curtis, (Eds.), 2009; Coates Palgrave, 2002).