Hesperantha falcata anthers and stigma branches

This Hesperantha falcata flower has three white anthers and three long white stigma branches emerging from the corolla throat. The anthers may also be yellow, presumably when ripe and laden with pollen.

The style splits at the top of the straight corolla tube that may be 4 mm to 9 mm long. The stigma branches are thin and thread-like, spreading widely from the corolla mouth.

A second, partly open flower in the background shows the red-brown outer tepal surfaces. Flowers grow in a spike, spirally arranged, subtended by soft-textured bracts.

Flowers of the white, fragrant form of this species open late afternoon or early evening, the yellow flowered plants open by midday. It is this white form that earned the plant another common name of aandblom (evening flower).

Flowering happens from midwinter through spring. This one was seen in Bainskloof during October (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2010; Manning, 2007; Bond and Goldblatt, 1984; iSpot).