Though this looks like artistic velvet flocking, it’s actually a closeup of a flower.
Persian carpet flower (Edithcolea grandis) is a desert plant from East Africa named for Miss Edith Cole (1859-1940) who found it in British Somaliland during a plant collecting expedition in 1895. It’s the only plant in its genus.
When you step back from the flocking, it looks like this:
Very beautiful. No wonder people plant it in desert gardens.
(both photos by Frank Vincenz from Wikimedia Commons. Click on each photo to see its original.)
Neat, I wonder if I could grow it out here…
Rumor has it that it’s very fussy about staying warm or it will rot.