Protea mundii inside the flowerhead

The innards of an open Protea mundii flowerhead is a multitude of straight cylindrical styles and other things. The lower parts of the styles are brown, ending in a short white section before it becomes markedly thin but remains straight. The white knob at the tip is the pollen presenter initially, when the female component is still unripe and it presents pollen deposited upon it to visiting insects and birds.

Once this pollen is delivered, the female part, initially the pollen presenter, ripens when the flowerhead is still appealing to pollinators. The stigma is by now ready to receive pollen from visitors that have touched other flowerheads of the same species.

Down below, the spectacularly hairy tips of some discarded perianths are visible (Manning, 2007; Coates Palgrave, 2002; Rebelo, 1995; Rourke, 1980; iNaturalist).