Erica sparsa flowers in the sun

This Erica sparsa plant was catching sunshine, a special opportunity for flaunting long exserted styles and dark anthers. The stigmas show their shapes brazenly, well above their own anthers for preventing self-pollination. Healthy shapes of gender-related attributes contribute to procreation in many living species.

The thick-bodied, lobed anthers may protrude here just higher than the petal tips, still not to be missed in the rough and tumble of pollination antics. Weird that such services are conducted by seemingly alien species but in long-standing, mutually beneficial relationships enjoying close bonds with the Erica flowers (Manning and Helme, 2024; Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; iNaturalist).