Syncarpha vestita floral geometry

These Syncarpha vestita flowerheads show a striking colour contrast between the many rows of shiny white, papery bracts and the band of open floret rings around the buds in the disc centres. The open florets are blackish brown to dark purple. The fruits are oblong with feathery pappus attachments. On the outsides of the heads the circular multitudes of outwardly radiating involucral bracts all end in acutely angled tips that catch the eye. The tip angles are all the same size or very close to it, while the bracts vary considerably in length. 

Every central, dark-rimmed disc consists of numerous tiny florets. All tubular and five-lobed, the fertile florets always start opening from the perimeter of the disc. The buds yet to open in the centre are pale like the spreading involucres on the outside.

Each flowerhead grows solitary from a stem-tip, reaching a diameter of 4 cm to 5 cm (Manning 2009; iNaturalist; https://pza.sanbi.org).