Lachenalia mutabilis, the ups and downs of flowers

The outer, shorter segments of the Lachenalia mutabilis flowers are very slightly bluer towards the top of the spike section in view, whiter to faintly dull reddish lower down. The dark, fleshy bumps at the tips of these short, outer segments are redder than brown on this plant.

The longer, inner segments are yellower on the upper flowers, darkening to brown-red on the lowest, oldest ones. The lower flowers are more widely open than the upper ones, but anthers and stigma remain hidden inside, just visible in one case where the camera angle reveals a bit of inside information.

The flowers are slightly spaced and stalkless, nodding because of the low positioning of the point of attachment to the erect stalk. This stalk seems to bulge ever so slightly to “meet” the flowers, at least in the case of one flower visible here (Manning, 2007).