Protea cynaroides - Summer Flowering - King Protea - Indigenous Cut Flower Shrub, New

Protea is both the botanical name and the English common name of a genus of South African flowering plants, sometimes also called sugarbushes in Eglish 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. 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 cynaroides commonly known as Giant Protea, King Protea or Mountain Rose in English and Aprilprotea, Bergsuikerkan, Grootsuikerkan, Koningprotea, Reuseprotea, Suikerkan or Waterprotea in Afrikaans is a South African endemic species. It has one of the widest distribution ranges of all the Proteaceae and occurs from the Cedarberg in the northwest to Grahamstown in the east. Surely the best known protea, prized worldwide as a magnificent cut flower and in South Africa honoured as the national flower. The flower bud of this protea looks remarkably like the globe artichoke vegetable with the Latin name of Cynara scolymus and this led the botanist Linnaeus to give it the species name cynaroides.