Codon royenii flower beginning and end

    Codon royenii flower beginning and end
    Author: Ivan Lätti
    Photographer: Thabo Maphisa

    In this photo the old and new Codon royenii flowers face in opposite directions like past and future. Flowers grow solitary or in spiral, stem-tip clusters.

    The bud to the right is in the pink of condition, all promise and expectation. The old flower to the left is neglecting its looks like grandmother shunning make-up. It takes its leave as it turns coffee-coloured; the earlier valued, pristine colouring no longer required for impressing passers-by.

    The old flower base is widening, the withering corolla becoming constricted above the burgeoning ovary producing offspring.

    The upper leaves, massed in the mature plant, appear much smaller than the big, spaced leaves of a young plant (Le Roux, et al, 2005; Leistner, (Ed.), 2000; Eliovson, 1990; iNaturalist; Wikipedia; http://pza.sanbi.org).

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