Protea caffra Seeds
South African Indigenous Shrub
Protea is both the botanical name and the English common name of a genus of South African flowering plants, sometimes also called sugarbushes in English and Suikerbos in Afrikaans. The genus Protea was named after the Greek god Proteus, who could change his form at will, because plants within this genus have such a wide variety of forms. The Proteaceae family to which proteas belong is an ancient one. Its ancestors grew in Gondwana, 300 million years ago. Most protea occur south of the Limpopo River. 92% of the species occur only in the Cape Floristic Region, a narrow belt of mountainous coastal land from Clanwilliam to Grahamstown, South Africa. They are evergreen shrubs or trees usually found in fynbos. Protea blossoms make excellent cut flowers, keeping their colour for up to three weeks. In the garden they do well in rockeries and also make excellent feature plants. An added attraction during flowering time is the numerous birds attracted to the plants. Other well-known genera of the Proteaceae are Aulax with brightly coloured pincushion flowers, Leucospermum also known as pincushions, Leucadendron with decorative woody cones and Serruria, of which Serruria florida, the blushing bride, with its beautiful pale pink flowers is the most well-known, Spatalla and Telopea with its unique bright flowers. Protea caffra is a small tree or shrub which occurs in open or wooded grassland usually on rocky ridges. Its leaves are leathery and hairless. The flower head is solitary or in clusters of 3 or 4 with the involucral bracts a pale red, pink or cream colour. The fruit is a densely hairy nut. The species is very variable and has several subspecies. The specific epithet caffra is derived from 'Caffraria', the 17th century geographical name for the north eastern regions of South Africa, in turn a latinisation of the islamic Arabic 'Kafir' - unbeliever. First discovered in Natal, South Africa in December/January 1839/40 by Ferdinand Krauss, this protea has never attracted much attention from horticulturalists. It was induced to flower at Kew in May 1893, but this failed to kindle any further interest in the species. Its chief claim to fame is that it was illustrated on the reverse of the South African threepenny piece - or 'tickey' - for almost 30 years. The bark can be used medicinally. Protea caffra is widely distributed across the eastern reaches of South Africa, with a separate far northern enclave in the Inyanga district of Zimbabwe, extending into Mozambique. It prefers poor, quartzitic, acidic soils, but is equally at home on a wide variety of well-drained soils and has even been found on alkaline dolomitic soils. It occurs from sea level to 2100m, always on southern slopes where the terrain is broken and rocky, or mountainous. It usually forms open stands in which it is the single large shrub or tree; these stands can cover large areas. A very hardy perennial shrub that will survive temperatures of at least -5 degrees Celsius. The seeds will germinate in the summer 22 days after planting, and the young plants will reach a height of 10cm in their first year. Thereafter, growth can be somewhat variable with stops and starts. Should start to bloom from the 6th year, when lower branches should be pruned to stimulate the flowering shoots.
