Brabejum stellatifolium blooms close-up

The rusty brown bracts of a Brabejum stellatifolium flower drop off, the white, stalked bud cylindrical before anthesis (opening). Some of the usually bisexual flowers may abort one part, becoming effectively unisexual.

The flowers appear in spaced whorls, the bracts lost from the lowest ones first. The open flower has a long style, the white buds cylindrical (Coates Palgrave, 2002; Leistner, (Ed.), 2000; iNaturalist; http://pza.sanbi.org).