Protea dracomontana perianths spreading, styles escaping

In this older Protea dracomontana flowerhead the individual florets are breaking away from the central perianth cone, starting from the outside. The compact cone is where they all started off tightly together, squeezed during the bud stage with no room for manoeuvre given by the dominant involucral bracts. The next step is for the styles tipped with pollen presenters to break free from their perianth covers, serving pollen to birds and insects (Rebelo, 1995; Rourke, 1980; iNaturalist).