Gorteria personata tall stamens

The tall, orange stamens of the open disc florets of the Gorteria personata flowerhead protrude markedly above the spreading tips of the pale yellow, pointed petal lobes. The yellow of the rays seems slightly brighter than that of the disc florets.

The eight rays in picture are elliptic, black at the base and three-toothed at the tips. These teeth correspond to the three bulging longitudinal zones on the ray blade. The margin of the black section at the base of each ray is also acutely toothed or roundly scalloped, depending on whether one focuses on black or yellow.

The bracts are densely cobwebby low down, fiercely spine-like at their nearly naked, brown-red tips. The bracts are longer than the rays, the support bigger than the flower (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; Manning and Goldblatt, 1997; Bond and Goldblatt, 1984; iNaturalist; https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au).