Protea caffra Meisn.

Erect shrubs or small trees 3-8 m in height with a distinct main stem or trunk up to 400 mm in diam. and an irregular to spreading crown; more rarely an erect, branched shrub 1-3 m in height, multiple-stemmed and lacking a definite trunk. Bark black, brown or grey, reticulately fissured when mature. Stems glabrous 4-12 mm wide. Leaves linear-elliptic, linear-falcate, narrowly to broadly elliptic, narrowly to broadly oblanceolate, occasionally subfalcate to falcate, 70-250 mm long, 4-45 mm wide, apices acute or obtuse; glabrous, heavily coriaceous to thin textured and papyraceous, pale green, dull green or variously glaucous; tending to be clustered on current year's growth; sessile to subpetiolate. Inflorescences usually solitary but occasionally with 3 or 4 clustered at shoot apex; globose to ovoid, broadly and shallowly crateriform on opening, 45-80 mm in diam.; sessile to stipitate, stipe up to 25 mm long, glabrous to densely sericeous. Receptacle broadly convex to flat, 20-30 mm in diam. Involucral bracts 6-8 seriate; outer series very broadly ovate to deltate, 10-20 mm wide, 5-7 mm long, densely to sparsely beset with a silvery sericeous indumentum distally, or quite glabrous; tightly imbricate; inner series oblong to broadly oblong-spathulate, 30-50 mm long, 10-20 mm wide, apices rounded to subacute, slightly concave, glabrous, or occasionally with sparsely sericeous areas on the basal region of the bracts. Perianth 45-60 mm long, straight, usually glabrous externally except at limb apices; tube region winged, 7-14 mm long, broadened or dilated, glabrous externally, inner surface varying from glabrous through sparsely to densely pubescent distally with a tawny to whitish indumentum, the pubescence usually (though not always) extending up the inner surface of the claws; claws filiform, usually glabrescent and only occasionally pubescent externally, inner surface glabrous or pubescent; limbs linear-elliptic, 10-18 mm long, glabrous to sparsely villous on the abaxial limbs and apices, with a tawny to whitish indumentum; apices curved, forming short acute horns. Style adaxially arcuate, 40-60 mm long, slender. Pollen presenter linear-filiform, acute, straight, 7-12 mm long, geniculate at junction with style. Ovary 5-8 mm long, obconic, covered with straight tawny trichomes. Hypogynous scales acute, 2 mm long. Flowering takes place during a short but well-defined season of about 6-8 weeks. At the coast flowering may commence as early as October but at inland localities December and January is the peak flowering period. A sweet, slightly sulphurous odour is emitted from the open inflorescences, serving as a powerful attractant to scarab beetles, notably Meltnesthes exilis; Pachnoda rufa; Trichostetha fascicularis and Oxythyrea testaceoguttata.

Found in a wide range of habitats from humid, tropical coastlines to grassland and high ridges; on a variety of geological formations, favouring poor, sandy or quartzite soils, acid in nature, but also sometimes even on alkaline dolomite.

Can be grown by seedlings.