Melasphaerula graminea flying floral dragon

Spidery elongation of Melasphaerula graminea tepals accompany uneven width variation. Focus on the flower and let the mind explore: An eerie cross-species capability is intimated, as if the flower might do confrontational stuff unexpectedly in the dark.

Purple streaks inside the corolla cup guide to the nectar produced for pollinator enjoyment. The species has septal nectaries at the unfused margins of the carpels that exude the nectar from small pores. These purple lines, however, simultaneously contribute intentionally, as the mind may fantasise, to décor that warns intruders to back off.

The flowers exude a scent that has been described as musky. Yellow anthers, the male component, dangle promisingly under the dorsal tepal. The three style branches, the female counterpart, are positioned Amason-like in the van of the floral attack.

Broad green bracts are visible below each flower in picture… nothing sinister about them. They confirm that all this merely constitutes well-shaped floral reproductive trimmings, evolved in yet another wondrous way in the land of the living.

The flowering plants of the earth are still on the design path! Theyre having a field millennium, in evolutionary terms more appropriate than a field day (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; Manning, 2007; Leistner, (Ed.), 2000; iNaturalist).