Schotia brachypetala ovary and ripe pollen

    Schotia brachypetala ovary and ripe pollen
    Author: Ivan Lätti
    Photographer: Thabo Maphisa

    The round-tipped sepals of the Schotia brachypetala flower in picture are much shorter than the stamens, angling out around them and fleshy as are all the inner floral parts.

    The ten stamens, when they're all present, are joined at the base, not as tall as the style. The flower-coloured filaments curve in just before their tips. The ripe anthers are dark in some lobe parts, creamy yellow with granular pollen elsewhere, freed from the opened slits in their bodies.

    The superior ovary  is long, narrow and angular amidst its ring of stamens. It is a different red to the filaments and sepals, shiny water cells glistening upon its surface. The long, cylindrical style protrudes from the top of the ovary, topped by the tiny, lobed stigma (Coates Palgrave, 2002; Schmidt, et al, 2002; Leistner, (Ed.), 2000; Pooley, 1993; iNaturalist).

    Total Hits : 851