Moquiniella rubra bud tips turning black

Ant and other pollination service providers (simultaneously also beneficiaries) are checking these Moquiniella rubra buds for readiness to provide food. Judging from the black-tipped florets there is a chance that the opening of this restaurant is imminent.

The buds are mainly erect, their colouring sufficient for meeting the marketing standards related to the targeted pollinator population. These buds become about 43 mm long.

The plant is usually palatable and browsed by livestock and game, but when the host plant is the poisonous Melianthus comosus, the residing parasite also becomes toxic (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2010; Leistner, (Ed.), 2000; Shearing and Van Heerden, 2008).