Trachyandra falcata when the going gets tough

Exhaustion has taken over after the last Trachyandra falcata flower on the stalk has departed. The exertion has turned the leaves pale purple from their initial blue-green, the upper parts dry.

Even the auxiliary raceme in the two-branched panicle has served its last lunch to a pollinator. Whether the visitors have done their part and seed will ensue, becomes clear later when the hairless fruit capsules develop or not.

How hard this live performance can be, is depicted in the short, dark, failed inflorescence that sits between the leaf bases from the tuber closest to the camera (Manning, 2007; Le Roux, et al, 2005; Manning and Goldblatt, 1997).