Hesperantha pauciflora half-opened tepals

The outer surfaces of the outer three Hesperantha pauciflora tepals are darker, coarser with vein-lines. These three served as sepals around the inner ones during the bud phase, sheltering them early on.

The two small bracts still present below the flower also contributed security services even earlier, now negligible and easily overlooked at the flower base.

The throat is white in the corolla of the open flower in picture (Manning and Goldblatt, 1997).