Aulax umbellata female flowers budding

The wavy, round-tipped stem-tip leaves of Aulax umbellata are sparse and large around the denser and smaller leafy involucral bracts of the female flowerheads.

These bracts resemble the leaves in shape and colour. They open when the female florets are ready to receive pollen from the male bushes in the vicinity (Manning, 2007; Bean and Johns, 2005).