Coleus neochilus angular budding

The bud stage of a Coleus neochilus, previously a Plectranthus neochilus inflorescence is a geometric shape of captivating symmetry, a steep pyramid with accessories. The keeled bracts in pale purple overlap neatly in their four-angled edifice, tapering to a pointy top.

Lower bracts in picture have yellow keels, upper ones are dark in four converging rows, dense in the centre. The uppermost buds swell out last in becoming flowers. The bract tips veer out in orderly fashion as if on parade, neatly sized in sequence as the military does it.

The leaves below follow suit in their structural elegance, lighting up ceramicist eyes searching for bowl or salver designs. Leaf midribs and the sparsely branched lateral veins ascend prominently upon the soft-coloured outsides of blade surfaces (Pooley, 1998).