Bobartia indica flower and fruit

The dense inflorescences of Bobartia indica are at the base enclosed by green spathes ending in long needle-like tips. From four to forty yellow, star-shaped flowers with six spreading, pointed tepals make up an inflorescence. The three stamens in each bisexual flower diverge on yellow filaments, alternating with the three long style branches topping the inferior ovary. A flower lasts less than a day. Bloomtime is from before midspring to summer. The plants flower best after fire.

A green, three-locular fruit capsule (or two) peep out on the right past the yellow flower, indicating that the flower wasn't the first to open here. The green, top-shaped capsules have rings around their upper parts, showing the lines of dehiscence when the fruits are ripe. There are actually three valves on the three locules of each fruit. When the capsule dries, it splits along this ring, the three valves peeling back from the top.

The brown, bract-covered stem emerging from above the Bobartia inflorescence belongs to another plant, a bit like kids waving on the TV news when the photographer could not get them to move away in time (Manning, 2007; Bean and Johns, 2005; Bond and Goldblatt, 1984; iNaturalist).