Arctopus echinatus female flowers

Hefty apical spines occur at the tips of these triangular bracts surrounding the female florets in an Arctopus echinatus inflorescence. Granular spots along the surfaces may either be the shortest of hairs or tiny papillae.

Some narrow-based conical spines, not quite fully developed as bracts, enhance the defence system of the flowers. These are present apart from the more common, flat-surfaced, deltoid (triangular) bracts.

The flower cluster of this species grows in the shape of a sessile umbel. Creamy white styles tipped by tiny brown stigmas are erect in each floret. The fleshy protuberances around them might deserve to be called petals, if not vestigial ones (Manning, 2007; iNaturalist).