Narrow-leaf sugarbush

Description

Protea neriifolia, also known as the narrow-leaf sugarbush, oleander-leaved sugarbush, blue sugarbush, or the oleanderleaf protea, is a flowering plant in the genus Protea, which is endemic to South Africa. Common names for the species in the Afrikaans language include blousuikerbos, baardsuikerbos, baardsuikerkan, blou-suikerbos, blousuikerkan, roosboom and suikerbos. The tree's national number is 93.1. It is a large, erect shrub or small tree, growing from about three to five metres in height. The stems become glabrous (hairless) when mature. The leaves are 'sessile', which means they lack a petiole and arise straight from the stems. These leaves diagnostically curve upwards. They are elliptic-shaped, coloured green or blue-grey, and their margin run parallel to each other. The leaves become glabrous when mature. It blooms in Summer and Spring, although it has also been seen blooming in the Winter and Autumn. The plant is monoecious, with both sexes in each flower. It has its flowers arranged in a flower head, a special type of inflorescence. Each branch bears only one inflorescence. This species is recognisable in having the inflorescence shaped as a long, oblong cone. It is 13 by 8 cm in size. The flower heads are cup-shaped, and the flowers within them contain nectar. The inflorescence is subtended (i.e. surrounded or covered) by 'involucral bracts'. These outer bracts range in colour from carmine to pink to creamy-green or whitish, this colour contrasts with the characteristic hairy black fringe on the margins of the apex of the bract. The inner bracts are shaped oblong to spatulate, and are typically curved inwards at the tips. These tips are rounded and also covered in a black, sometimes white, beard of fuzzy hairs. The fruit is a nut, its surface densely covered in hairs. These small nuts are packed together within the dried inflorescence, which remains on the plant after senescence. When eventually released, the seeds are dispersed by means of the wind. Protea neriifolia occurs in both the Western and the Eastern Cape provinces of South Africa. It occurs in the southern coastal mountain ranges of South Africa, between Cape Town and Port Elizabeth. It grows in the mountain ranges of Hottentots Holland, Langeberg, Groot Winterhoek, Elandsberg, Rooiberg, Kammanassie, Potberg, Riviersonderend, Kogelberg and Jonkershoek, as well as at Garcia's Pass and near the towns of Tulbagh and Ceres.