Montinia caryophyllacea female flowers

The female flowers of Montinia caryophyllacea can easily be spotted, as the ellipsoid, inferior ovaries protrude conspicuously below the rings of four white petals of each flower. Looking for a male flower on the same bush is fruitless as the plants are dioecious.

The female flowers grow solitary, in pairs or occasionally in groups of three. The calyces are spindle-shaped, tapering to both ends. Each calyx ends in four short teeth or lobes. In picture the emerging corollas on the buds are cream outside and folded, the teeth-like calyx lobes visible immediately below the corollas. The petals are similar to those of male flowers. The stigmas on the style tips are exserted.

The fleshy disc touches the ovary that comprises two carpels. There are two placentas on the central axis, each bearing twelve ovules divided into two columns. The short, thick styles are two-branched, each with a horseshoe-shaped stigma on top (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; Manning, 2007; Leistner, (Ed.), 2000; iNaturalist).