Ruschia calcarea flowers

The pink-purple flowers of Ruschia calcarea in picture still have to open, or re-open for the day. They open in bright daylight, not so well on cold, cloudy days. There are also some nocturnal Ruschia species, the flowers generally fragrant.

There are staminodes inside the corolla around the stamens, sometimes forming a cone. The staminodes are sterile, only consisting of filaments, the stamens topped with pollen-bearing anthers.

The two stalked flowers in picture, grown at a stem-tip, have opposing bracts below their calyces. Ruschia flowers also grow from leaf axils and may be solitary or occur in larger inflorescences. The petals are here about twice as long as the calyx. Sepal tips are withering early here, having served their purpose.

The mottled sepal surfaces are not clearly repeated on the blue-green leaves in picture, due to wrinkling from lack of moisture. Rest mode commences when resources are low, the sun not as welcome inside until more rain.

The leaves are strongly sickle-shaped from curving in. The few teeth on the keels curve down; one visible bract tooth does not comply with this trend (Smith, et al, 1998; Herre, 1971; iNaturalist).