Thesium euphorbioides floral bracts

The broad, rounded bracts protecting the stem-tip Thesium euphorbioides flower clusters are still very much in charge here. Tiny pointed tips protrude above the shallow dish-like bracts, different in colour to the glaucous leaves of similar shape immediately below.

Inside leaf and bract surfaces are different, as in many plants that favour one leaf surface with more sunlight than the other. Both bracts and leaves have a faint ridge where a keel or midrib would be.

The flower, however small and well protected, appears very different from leaves and bracts. It’s the flower that requires advertising to pollinators, not the leaves. Bad enough that browsers have so little difficulty in spotting the juicy, eatable leaf parts.

The lives of pollinators must not be complicated by confusing plant parts. Insect and bird visitation success enhance flowering plant seed production. No sensible species plays games with its future. Especially since the most gifted, and loyal pollinator does not understand the first thing about the mysteries of reproduction in the plant world.