Tiny Tuesday - Pincushion

The "Pincushion Protea" hails from South Africa, and I bought some stems a couple of months ago to use as a photographic subject.  Since then they have been drying out in the hall, and I thought their unusual reproductive "bits" would serve as an entry to WWombat's Tiny Tuesday Challenge.

The long stems with a swollen tip are actually the stigma. The stamen are the dark hairy twirls.