Floral mimicry

We recently hiked on Anne Paterson’s farm in the Cedarberg and we
saw these flowers of Lapeirousia fabricii (left) and Tritonia crispa (right) growing next
to each other. We were very excited because we had never seen the
tritonia before. It apparently only flowers after fire, and the veld was
burnt a year or so before.
Micky Orrey, Cape Town

Graham Duncan of Kirstenbosch replies
An excellent example of floral mimicry – both Lapeirousia fabricii and
Tritonia crispa are adapted to pollination by long-proboscid flies.