Dombeya rotundifolia flowers

The flowers of Dombeya rotundifolia are usually white or creamy white, rarely a uniform pale pink or tinged with green. They grow in many-flowered axillary heads before the leaves appear in spring, reminiscent of a pear tree in bloom. The flowers are fragrant.

Depending on the area, rain and temperature, the blooming may commence in July already or as late as November. The creamy brown faded flowers tend to persist. The fruit is a spherical hairy capsule.

In D. rotundifolia var. rotundifolia the, the one in picture, the ovary is covered in silky hairs. This is the variety occurring in South Africa. There is another variety, D. rotundifolia var. velutina restricted to a small area in Namibia. The ovary of the latter variety is covered in short, branched (stellate) hairs (Coates Palgrave, 2002; Schmidt, et al, 2002; The Tree Society of Southern Africa, 1974).