Satyrium ligulatum spike tip

A Satyrium ligulatum stem-tip inflorescence has erect floral bracts below the still closed buds at the top of the spike of flowers. These bracts become briskly reflexed once the flowers open. In picture the thin but fleshy bracts have green and pale purple patches on both inside and outside surfaces. On some plants the bracts of this species are green or yellow green only. Some of the ones in picture have dried, damaged tips even before they reflex. The bracts are slightly convex on the inside, retaining this feature throughout. There are distinct midrib veins seen as lines or ridges on the outer surfaces of some bracts, three of those have appeared on the older bract, next to become reflexed. Bracts are up to three times as long as the flower’s ovary, or shorter to only half that (Liltved and Johnson, 2012; iNaturalist).