notes Detail of an individual flower of Nemacladus tenuis var. tenuis.
Here you can see what the venerable Phillip Munz (on pg 1066 of his opus magnum, A California Flora) described as...
...''3 flattened rounded glands near the base (of the ovary), these opposite the three lobes of the upper corolla lip''.
These glands appear as yellow blobs in the photo here, sitting in the bowl at the base of the corolla. Munz continues...
...''Filaments between these glands with small stipe-like appendages, each of which bears 1 or more terminal transparent rod-like cells''.
Years after first becoming enchanted by Nemacladus, I'm still mystified by these bizarre ''rod-like cells' that radiate palmately from the base of the stamen tube like thin, translucent fingers! What in the world is their function!?? [Nancy...if you (or Tina?) have any ideas, I'd love to hear them!!)
You can also see these intriguing ''stipe-like appendages'' in the following CalPhotos images of other Nemacladus taxa: N. tenuis var. aliformis; N. orientalis; N. interior; and N. rubescens.