In the far west inland region bearing Karoo type vegetation Protea glabra lives exposed among rocks in sparse scrub landscape, sometimes in deep sand. Although conditions are challenging due to low rainfall and extreme temperatures, flowering may disguise the hardship overcome since last year’s blooms.

There is usually a stout woody plant base from which the many thin stems keep emerging as the base grows, none of them taking over as a main trunk (Rourke, 1980; Manning, 2007; Coates Palgrave, 2002; iNaturalist).