Syncarpha canescens heads and spider

The outer bracts of the Syncarpha canescens flowerheads in picture are dark pink-purple. The inner rows of these involucral bracts are paler pink on both surfaces. These inner bract surfaces are concave, their tips curving in. The bracts end in tiny mucro-like extensions.

Spiders are not commonly listed as pollinators. Many webs in the world are spun privately, however, aimed at surprise. Captured insects may still deliver for a flower as they wriggle in the quest for freedom or other objectives. There are so many arachnoids on earth that the diets and habits of some surprise.

The flowerhead central discs comprise numerous tiny, five-lobed florets, all bisexual and dark to nearly black. Yellow anthers are visible from only some open florets. There are whitish styles on some, but not simultaneously with the anthers from the same florets.

The dark-rimmed, stem-adhering leaves are simple, stalkless and overlapping (Curtis-Scott, et al, 2020; Manning, 2007; iNaturalist).