Osteospermum sinuatum var. sinuatum disc and ray developments

Ageing of the Osteospermum sinuatum var. sinuatum flowerhead in picture has set in as observed in the ray tips curling back. Something has triggered the process on one side ahead of the rest. Such internal microprocesses might have a particular cause fathomable by science, or are explained in terms of stochastic processes, more simply, chance.

In the centre, the disc florets are taking their time. Only the second ring of florets have opened yet, again not uniformly all round the disc but leading on the same side as the rays. Some outer row disc florets are past their prime already, the five pointed lobes withered and the anthers browned.

Whether the last greenish disc floret buds right in the centre will ever reach opening stage is a bet likely to get long odds from the bookies. Maybe sufficient pollen has already been distributed in the bigger scheme of species continuation for the season in these parts, or from this head. Or not much point for a pollinator to visit a half-dead flowerhead to mine belated florets when a profusion of better ones abound nearby. Exhaustion of resources or collapse of localised vascular facilities is most likely in the absence of a brain or planning department that might pursue other interests (Le Roux, et al, 2005).