Disa cornuta inflorescence

This full Disa cornuta inflorescence photographed at night is busy from being dense and many-flowered with a fair amount of colour variety. The pale flower faces have rusty bonnets and black lips. The bracts, ovaries and the stem of the spike are green.

The cylindrical inflorescence tapers to its tip where the buds are still small. They may open when the lowermost flowers are already forming fruits and filling with seeds. In this phasing the vicissitudes of bloomtime weather that may deliver a mix of favourable and unfavourable periods can be overcome, as far as seed set certainty is concerned.

If all goes well, blooming for a protracted period also serves as reward for pollinator partners like carpenter bees who have to find alternative food sources whenever a floral kitchen closes (Liltved and Johnson, 2012; iNaturalist).