Friday Fabulous Flower - Silky Oak

Friday snuck up on the Phactor again; this time because of exams, lab reports, research presentations, and students excited, exercised, excusing, expecting results about same. As our unusally cold wintery weather presists, it helps to turn to warmer or even southern hemisphere climes, and here's some pretty nifty flowers of an Australian silky oak (Grevillea). The prominent style and stigma are pretty unusal as a major part of a visual display, as is their function as a pollen presenter. Prior to being exerted, the style forms a loop while the knobby stigma is still held within the perianth (lower left). My old friend the Flyguy took this picture while on sabbatical.