Polygala bracteolata flower

This Polygala bracteolata flower has its wing sepals held well back like steenbok ears. Their bright purple colouring is rarely repeated by other flowers in the veld. The elegant sepal tips reinforce the steenbok analogy.

Much of the rest of the flower is projected forward in a multicoloured cylinder. But not as much as the unkempt white crest at the tip, appearing like a beard gone wrong.

The nearly ready to open buds in picture are held up by their pedicels like the open flower. The younger buds preparing to perform later dangle greenish on long pedicels below (Bean and Johns, 2005; iNaturalist).