Strophanthus speciosus flower

The sweetly scented, creamy yellow to orange Strophanthus speciosus flowers have long corolla tubes, each ending in five long corolla lobes that are narrow and spread or bend back. These thin, tapering lobes are tail-like and twisted with faintly toothed margins turned up. There is mostly a variable, dull red to reddish brown patch at the base of each corolla lobe. A corolla tube is up to 1 cm long and 1 cm wide at the mouth, the lobes up to 3 cm long.

The buds in picture have small calyx cups with diverging green sepal lobes. Above these cups the basal part of the corolla in bud presents a whitish cylinder, the corolla tube that ends in a brownish ring. This is where the bud's still cohering corolla lobes begin, forming a narrowly thread-like, slightly greener, upper section that sometimes curves. The different buds in picture indicate how these stages progress.

The stamens are inserted deep in the corolla tube. The anthers cohere in a cone. The style is shorter than the stamens (Coates Palgrave, 2002; Schmidt, et al, 2002; Leistner, (Ed.), 2000; Pooley, 1998; Onderstall, 1996; iNaturalist; https://pza.sanbi.org).