To take this photograph, Ensermu and I drove 550 km down a wretched gravel road in Ethiopia (ok – I actually quite liked the trip – every bump of it, in the back of our Toyota Land Cruiser) to the Somalia border. We arrived by ~4pm, which was the same time we were to turn around, for safety reasons. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to view the flower in its open / anthetic state. That’s because it flowers at night, likely an adaptation to nocturnal moth pollination.

Oh well. Another population I must revisit. Cool stellate trichomes on the leaves.

Wild collected, Ethiopia, Tripp & Ensermu #905 (RSA-POM); Photo by Erin Tripp