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Home Home » GENERA P » Protea » Protea aurea subsp. aurea young flowerhead
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Protea aurea subsp. aurea young flowerhead

Protea aurea subsp. aurea young flowerhead
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  • 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
  • Protea aurea subsp. aurea, the long and the white and the old
  • Protea burchellii
  • Protea caffra flowerhead towards the end of its cycle
  • Protea cordata
  • Protea cordata
  • Protea cordata flowerheads at ground level
  • Protea cordata scale leaves
  • Protea coronata in a dense stand near Greyton

Image information

Description

The early stage of the open flowerhead of Protea aurea subsp. aurea shows the perianths spreading. That leaves an open central space exposing the white basal sections of the styles down to where the ovaries are securely attached to the convex receptacle.

When the perianth sections of the individual floret are forced to liberate their style by the rapid elongation of the latter, they collapse in a jumble over the ovary, providing cover for its important future tasks of fruit and seed formation. The style is about 10 cm long, the pollen presenter 17 mm and the ovary 3 mm.

This unusually shaped Protea flowerhead has intrigued horticulturists for centuries. Rourke outlines the resulting spread of P. aurea subsp. aurea in the gardening world to places like Hawaii and the Scilly Islands (Rourke, 1980).

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651
Photographer
Thabo Maphisa
Author
Ivan Latti
 
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