Ursinia dentata busy flower

If seed production is poor in this Ursinia dentata flowerhead, blame should not be laid on the industrious pollinators. Guests small and smaller are helping themselves here and thereby helping the florets in acquiring pollen from ratified outside sources, i.e. of the same species.

Pollen from other plants representing different DNA is ignored like any dust that may be attached to the pollinator.

Some visitors exceed their unwritten, long-standing contract by nibbling on the ray floret margins. As long as the visitors do arrive, the pretty floral extras have served their purpose, so no worries.

The flowerheads grow solitary on peduncles of 15 cm to 23 cm in length. The yellow ray florets are coppery or reddish on their lower surfaces. This species flowers in spring and summer. The leaf lobes visible in the background are short and spaced.

The species distribution is along the Western Cape coast from the Cape Peninsula to Riversdale and inland to the Gifberg. It grows in sandy soils on slopes and flats. The species is not considered to be threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century (Bond and Goldblatt, 1984; www.redlist.sanbi.org).