Leonotis ocymifolia flowers from below

    Leonotis ocymifolia flowers from below

    An inflorescence cluster on a Leonotis ocymifolia flowering stem often displays only one row or whorl of open orange corollas at any given time.

    The long, narrow flowers are about straight and slightly lumpy, irregular in their tubular shapes. Hairier in some parts and longitudinally vein-lined, the mouths are pointed as long as the buds remain closed. The floral tubes are from 25 mm to 45 mm long.

    The knobbly green area in the centre below the flowers shows the new rows of undeveloped buds, the lowermost the youngest stage. The oldest flowers were at the top, the successive whorls opening in descending order in the cluster.

    Inside every flower there are four stamens in two pairs of unequal length (Curtis-Scott, et al, 2020; Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; iNaturalist; Wikipedia; http://pza.sanbi.org).