These Protea aurea subsp. aurea flowerheads were seen during July. The styles spreading in a ring are reddish brown, the pollen presenters at their tips thin and white. The older flowerhead below has creamy white styles, its outer involucral bracts intact and firm around the developing fruit.

The pointed, dark, blue-green leaves have ciliate margins like subsp. potbergensis, but the flowerheads have pink involucres (Manning, 2007; Rourke, 1980; iNaturalist).