Stoeberia frutescens flowers

The flowers of Stoeberia frutescens are borne in laxly branched, terminal clusters. Five unequal, angular sepals are present, fleshy and spreading their pointed tips once the flower opens; or opening the flower as they spread.

The delicately thin, short petals are white, growing in about one whorl around the flower centre, opening to a diameter of up to 1,2 cm. In picture, the spreading petals tend to converge in discretely separate clusters of parallel petals over the five sepals.

A large, rounded cluster of staminodes or sterile, antherless filaments bulges with the erect stamens in the flower centre, their tips flushed pink. Flowering happens in winter and spring. The photo was taken in August at Goegap.

The fruit capsule that follows has broad, hard, winged valves that remain open once opened. The closing bodies covering the seed are large, positioned deep inside the locule cavities.

The seeds are pear-shaped and flattish with rough surfaces. They are wind-dispersed (Le Roux, et al, 2005; Smith, et al, 1998; Herre, 1971; iNaturalist).