Kniphofia caulescens hairy when flowering

A Kniphofia caulescens raceme of open flowers may appear hairy in a different way to when its buds were small. Instead of protruding hair-like bracts among the buds, exserted stamens and long styles protrude from open perianth mouths. This leaves a first impression of abundant hairs everywhere below the creamy mouths.

The fluff here isn’t hair, however, as any respectable pollinator will know. There’s food on the anthers, while the longer, white styles, forever in the way, grab pollen from insect bodies onto their sticky tips. This little detail of accidental pollen dropping is not of interest to the itinerant insects checking out the flowers. A good thing children don’t know about this necessary mess when arguing with neat mothers over cleaning their rooms (Manning, 2009; Pooley, 1998; iNaturalist).