Dais cotinifolia flower clusters or pompons

The flowering season of Dais cotinifolia in late spring and summer is a great joy, but usually a bit short for the liking of some gardeners, the blooms usually flourishing for only about three weeks.

The showy flowers are shell-pink to pinkish mauve clusters resembling pompons. The pompons are dense, nearly spherical heads of up to 5 cm in diameter, growing at stem-tips.

The ten stamens of each flower, varying in length, are positioned inside the calyx tube, which is longer than the lobes at its end. There are four shield-like, green bracts below each head. These bracts become brown and woody over time.

The fruit is a small, red-brown nutlet enclosed in the calyx tube and some bracts, bearing black, ovoid seeds (Coates Palgrave, 2002; Scmidt, et al, 2002; Wikipedia).