Wachendorfia paniculata yellow with red markings

Although the Wachendorfia genus consists of only four species and Wachendorfia thyrsiflora identification should be easy. Intraspecies variety may touch upon and create grey areas among  the species. There already have been some rearranging and renaming.

Speciation is characterised by hotspots and turning points. Wachendorfia may be in such a phase, making history with new forms emerging in nature in our time. So no surprise that the W. paniculata photos show such variability in flower forms. The W. paniculata flower shown here is marked red in irregular squiggles, notably centralised only on the inner sides of the lateral upper tepals (plus the central one). Some slightly pale areas occur immediately below the markings as well.

Enantiostyly is a weird phenomenon on display here by which the stamens diverge, the style accompanies one anther and the other two being deflected to the opposite side. This is more common than one might think, occurring in at least twelve flowering plant families and many of their genera. Outcrossing and self-pollination are involved. Tthe phenomenon is complex, much discussed and researched, for those wanting to pursue yet another interesting topic in the botanical literature (iSpot; Wikipedia; www.plantsystematics.com).