Satyrium erectum floral beginnings

Green Satyrium erectum flower buds are compactly clustered up the sturdy, bud-thickened stem in picture. The stem is comprehensively covered by the now still erect and overlapping floral bracts ending in acutely pointed tips.

The largest basal leaves are neither quite round, nor symmetric and not quite on the ground. They are pale green and smooth, also damaged but not seriously in terms of the plant’s progress through its annual developmental cycle.

Four smaller leaves above the big ones encircle the stem without touching it in their upper parts. The last few leaves above that adhere to the stem but lack buds to cover as the smaller, floral bracts in the inflorescence do have (Liltved and Johnson, 2012; Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; Manning, 2007).