Saltera sarcocolla reclining petals

One of the old Saltera sarcocolla flowers with exhausted petals in picture has exserted its style. It is erect in the midst of the stamens, protruding further than the anthers. The style is whitish and cylindrical, the stigma topping it brown.

The pollen from the anthers of this flower has presumably been carted away by pollinators already, the style now awaiting imported pollen in accordance with the conventions of cross-pollination that eschew botanical incest.

But watch, the corollas share an involucre, a kinky arrangement (Manning, 2007; Bean and Johns, 2005; iNaturalist; www.plantzafrica.com).