Mimetes stokoei

Description

Mimetes stokoei, the mace pagoda, is an evergreen, upright, hardly branching, large shrub of 1–2 m (3–​61⁄2 ft) high in the family Proteaceae. It has silvery, oval leaves of 5–8 cm (2.0–3.2 in) long and ​21⁄2–4 cm (1.0–1.6 in) wide, with one large tooth supported by two smaller teeth near the tip, at an upward angle and somewhat overlapping each other. The inflorescences are set just below the growing tip, are cylinder-shaped, 10–12 cm (4–5 in) high, topped by a crest of small, more or less horizontal, pinkish-purple tinged leaves. It consists of several flower heads in the axils of golden leaves with a pinkish wash that form a hood shielding the underlying flower head. Each flower head contains eight to twelve individual flowers, with amber-colored styles topped by blackish purple pollen presenters and grey silky perianth lobes. It is endemic to the Fynbos ecoregion of South Africa, being confined to the Kogelberg mountain range. The mace pagoda was twice presumed extinct, but reappeared in its natural habitat from seed, after a wildfire several decades later.