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Home Home » GENERA P » Protea » Protea acaulos old flowerhead
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Protea acaulos old flowerhead

Protea acaulos old flowerhead
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  • Protea
  • Protea acaulos
  • Protea acaulos leaves
  • Protea acaulos old flowerhead
  • Protea angustata leaves
  • Protea aurea subsp. aurea
  • Protea aurea subsp. aurea dark pink
  • Protea aurea subsp. aurea grown large
  • Protea aurea subsp. aurea having escaped a big fire at Greyton
  • Protea aurea subsp. aurea inside a young flowerhead
  • Protea aurea subsp. aurea old head closed again
  • Protea aurea subsp. aurea pink bud
  • Protea aurea subsp. aurea stem-tip leaves
  • Protea aurea subsp. aurea styles like needles
  • Protea aurea subsp. aurea young and old heads
  • Protea aurea subsp. aurea young flowerhead
  • Protea aurea subsp. aurea young flowerhead

Image information

Description

This spent flowerhead of Protea acaulos has nearly returned to the ovoid shape it had as a bud, reverting from the cup-shape of the open head. A tangle of used-up styles protrudes above the five or six rows of involucral bracts forming the enclosure that housed the dense bunch of individual florets.

These brown bracts were pale green in their prime with reddish, rounded upper margins, the flowerheads varying in colour between yellow and pink. An open flowerhead measures from 3 cm to 6 cm across. The styles are curved to sickle-shaped on a newly opened flowerhead and up to 3,5 cm long. Flowering happens in winter and spring.

Pollination of these low-growing flowerheads is done by rodents, access convenient for service providers that don’t fly. At peak flowering time the bracts may be splayed widely for a period, removing possible barriers from the way of hungry mice attracted by the yeasty flower smell.

This plant was seen in the Kogelberg in November when last blooms of the season might have been present, but not here (Rourke, 1980; Manning, 2007; Privett and Lutzeyer, 2010; Wikiwand).

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549
Photographer
Judd Kirkel
Author
Ivan Latti
 
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