Wildflower series ~ Rock dagga

I get an excuse to post my one of my favourite flowers to photograph, because this is a different species, Leontis microphylla, a small-leaved form of the common Wild Dagga. Wild Dagga is a pioneer plant that grows especially in disturbed places and comes up in my garden regularly but this relative keeps itself to itself on the hill. Here are the small leaves although there are so many plants in this picture, you'd be forgiven for wondering which I mean. It's the plant in the bottom-left corner. The spiky round leaves on the right are False Nasturtium.

The Leontis family blooms year round and is a favoured flower of sunbirds: the flower is specially adapted for its bird-pollinators - the long tube-shaped flowers are at an angle that allows the birds to perch on the stem and reach in with their long beaks to collect nectar. They are also high enough off the ground for birds to feel safe from predators and the red colour of the flower is also a visual signal to birds