Hypocalyptus sophoroides mostly bare stems

    Hypocalyptus sophoroides mostly bare stems
    Author: Ivan Lätti
    Photographer: Judd Kirkel Welwitch

    Wiry, thin, woody stems all the way to the live leaf and flower action up high, this Hypocalyptus sophoroides is bound to bend, possibly break in the big winds seasonally common over much of the southerly land where it grows. Early leaf loss renders it mostly naked lower down, its flowers soon out of reach of children. But those stems can be bent down!

    Whatever its fortune in terms of retaining its precious stem-tip inflorescences until the setting of seed, the plant in picture is making heavy weather of its growth challenge, judging from the many failed branches on display (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; Manning, 2007; Leistner, (Ed.), 2000; iNaturalist).

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