Leucadendron strobilinum, unusual red on a male bush

Unusually red stem-tip leaves have grown on this male Leucadendron strobilinum plant on Table Mountain in early autumn. The season has been hot and dry through the summer months.

Old flowerheads, pollen cones that have already played their roles in fruit and seed production are still present lower down. They are encircled by older, paler stem-tips, left behind by the taller growth. The new seasons male flowerheads will appear at the young stem-tips by next spring.

The fine, soft, leaf margin hairs are whitish; a fact not kept secret. This hairiness is, however, no durable feature, already gone from adjacent, older leaf rims a little lower down.

Young and old leaves end in tapered, angular points, or are round-tipped. Pointedness to the leaf tip has it over the rounded ones in numbers on the plant depicted (Manning, 2007; iNaturalist).