Cleome oxyphylla var. oxyphylla flowers

The flowers of Cleome oxyphylla var. oxyphylla grow in lax terminal racemes. The petals are rose-pink to purple with faintly yellow patches near the base of the upper two. All four petals are paddle-shaped, broad and slightly incurving near their tips. Two unmarked petals spread laterally; the yellow-marked pair is positioned closely together in the middle at the top. Faint lines are discernible on the petal surfaces, radiating out to the margins. One of the small, acutely pointed sepals clutching the flower base can be seen below where the flower has no petal.

Each flower has 12 stamens, four of which being much longer than the rest, equalling the petals in length. In the photo they can be observed, the bunch of longer stamens curving gracefully upwards and coloured a darker shade than the short ones. The anthers are bigger and blue-grey on the curved stamens, while the short, straight stamens have pale yellow anthers. The viability of pollen produced by these two different sources is unknown (www.zimbabweflora.co.zw; www.redlist.sanbi.org).