Streptocarpus primulifolius flowers

The flowers of Streptocarpus primulifolius grow solitary or in small, stalked clusters, often just two of them. S. rexii, a species that partly overlaps with this one, is commonly called twin sisters, a name that does not appear out of place here.

The calyx is five-lobed, the lobes narrow and acutely pointed, veering away from the corolla base.

The two-lipped corolla has a funnel-shaped tube and spreads its five round-tipped lobes from the flower mouth. On the outside the corolla is hairy and usually pale blue-violet, the lobes about white. On the inside the corolla lobes are pale blue or blue-violet and white, the floor of the wide tube longitudinally striped. The stripes occur in three groups formed by white partitions in the red-purple floor colouring of the three-lobed lower lip.

The two stamens are together inside the mouth facing each other. Nectar is produced and there is a superior ovary.

Flowering happens in summer and most of autumn. The photo was taken in February.

The fruit is a capsule becoming 18 cm long. It dehisces into spiral-shaped husk parts. The tiny seeds are wind-dispersed.

A scalloped leaf margin and some leaf hairiness can be seen in the photo (Pooley, 1998; iNaturalist; http://pza.sanbi.org).