Microloma namaquense flowers

Scarlet Microloma namaquense flowers shine just a little on their angular corolla tubes that are slightly wider at the base than the mouth. The corolla lobes fold back upon the tube about a third of the way.

The purplish sepals, fleshy and minutely hairy, curve away at the back like cattle horns as they taper to acutely pointed tips. Only their base parts serving as a dais for the corolla to rest upon seem functional; the upper parts purely decorative if not used as landing pads by incoming pollinators.

The branched flower stalks are dull purple, as finely hairy as the green stems. Small, half-withered bracts are visible where the stalks branch. Stem parts in view are straight, when not coiling around a host plant stem (Le Roux, et al, 2005).