The (very) different phases of an individual Banksia flower spike’s development are astonishing.
Over time, the very same spike’s appearance can range from “perfectly symmetrical, colourful, immaculately neat” through to “grotesque, seemingly shambolic and almost monochrome”, and from “petite” to “gigantic”.
In some species, an individual bush’s different spikes can simultaneously exhibit all of the aforementioned qualities.
(all photos copyright Doug Spencer)
Today’s and yesterday’s photos were taken with one minute – and just one or two footsteps – of each other, late on the afternoon of 22 September 2020.
This post’s Scarlet Banksia flower spike was at an earlier stage of its development than was the one in yesterday’s post.