Dicoma picta flowerhead

Dicoma picta flowerheads grow solitary on long peduncles. The tips of the upper row of tapering bracts, brown, acutely pointed and well shorter than the rays above them are visible in the photo. Other bracts, long, thin and needle-like are also present, giving the flowerhead a thistle-like appearance.

The flowers are pink-purple on their sparse ring of oblong ray florets. The lax bunch of disc florets are tubular and erect with five tiny recurving lobes at the floret mouths, also pink to purple in colour. A flowerhead reaches a diameter of 3,5 cm. Flowering happens from mid-spring to early summer.

Several of the 18 Dicoma species that form part of the Asteraceae family occur in Southern Africa. This species used to be called Cypselodontia eckloniana (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2010; Bond and Goldblatt, 1984).