Berkheya cuneata buds

The bracts have parted, but the florets of Berkheya cuneata are still in bud in the photo. The yellow dots topping the narrow cylinders of the disc florets show the buds closed, while the sparse ring of ray florets, red-brown on their outside surfaces, curves inwards still.

Around the florets sharp spines on the bract margins give warning. A young closed bud to the right, in an early stage of becoming a flowerhead, does not yet show the green inside surfaces of its bracts as its more advanced neighbour does (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2010).