Helichrysum milfordiae pink bracts as bait

The intense pink to dark maroon colouring of the young Helichrysum milfordiae involucral bract tips suggests that this is the plant's floral climax. Its peak moment of presenting youthful beauty to the world. Not so! The brightly coloured, neatly overlapping bracts arranged in several, aesthetically pleasing rows are only harbingers of what's to come. 

The spreading of the bracts is what the Drakensberg insects are really waiting for. This is when the many yellow disc florets are exposed to their target population of pollen consumers. The fulness of time for any flower. Simultaneous pollination of the bisexual florets when presenting their pollen to the hungry visitors and then surreptitiously grabbing some grains back, happens when the right contact is made. Pollen grain on sticky stigma! This manifests the true floral miracle, consummation of the timeless and universal contract that allows flowering plants to reproduce.

The photo was taken in the Mkhomazi Wilderness Area during January (Manning, 2009; iNaturalist; www.keys.lucidcentral.org).