Bulbine narcissifolia flowering halfway done

Half done flowering, this Bulbine narcissifolia head has it all: Up top there are the white bracts covering buds. Each has a green, vertical central line and a triangular, papery cloak. The bracts overlap closely, doing the nursery job of protecting by covering the young.

Below that is a short, dense ring of open yellow florets facing outwards, all bearded yellow on their stamens’ filaments in true Bulbine fashion. The next narrow ring consists of long-pedicelled old and closed flowers, their yellow gone. They show brown stripes on the outsides of white outer perianth segments that appear duck-beaked.

The last of the four flowering stages on show, is the ripening or ripened fruits, as well as the bare stalks from which the fruits have already disappeared (Easton-Brown and Kruger, 2023; Manning, 2009; Pooley, 1998; Van Wyk and Malan, 1997; iNaturalist).