Serruria rubricaulis flowers

This Serruria rubricaulis plant seen near Hermanus shows several flowerheads in a couple of clustered, stem-tip inflorescences. Where the few florets in each head are young, the mostly slightly curved perianths are pink-purple, variable in length. The matchhead perianth tips are white and grey, appearing woolly. The few open florets on the left in picture display little of themselves, apart from whitish styles, longer than the budding perianths close by.

Tiny dark stigmas can be discerned at the style tips in the photo. These style tips first function as pollen presenters during the earlier male phase of the protandrous system common in the Proteaceae family, before becoming receptive stigmas in the female phase (Marais, (Ed.), 2017; Bean and Johns, 2005; Bean and Burman, 1985; iNaturalist; Wikipedia).