Protea cryophila Bolus

Prostrate sprawling shrub forming dense, tufted clumps, 1-3 m in diam. to 0.5 m in height, with a single main stem developing horizontally radiating, highly divaricate, tightly interlocking branches. Branches 10-20 mm in diam., glabrous, covered with dark brown-black, irregularly ovate papyraceous scales. Leaves clustered at ends of flowering shoots, 300-500 mm long, glabrous; petiolate, petiole 200-250 mm long, 5 mm wide, semiterete, swollen proximally into a distinct leaf base, broadening distally into an elliptic, alveiform-conduplicate lamina, 100-250 mm long, 50-70 mm wide, heavily coriaceous to cartilaginous, margins horny, apex obtuse, midrib prominent. Inflorescence sessile, ovoidly truncate to urceolate in bud, opening to shallowly crateriform, 120-140 mm long, 130-160 mm in diam. when open, surrounded basally by numerous loose reddish-brown narrowly acuminate, largely glabrous, papyraceous bracts, 60-80 mm long, 5-7 mm wide. Receptacle broadly conic-depressed, 40-60 mm in diam. Involucral bracts 6-7 seriate, loosely imbricate, very densely and uniformly covered with a thick, white lanate indumentum; outer series narrowly lanceolate acuminate, 60-70 mm long, 10-15 mm wide; inner series very narrowly lanceolate linear, acuminate, 90-100 mm long, 5-7 mm wide. Perianth straight to very slightly arcuate, creamy-white to pink, 85-90 mm long; tube region 10-15 mm long, glabrous externally and internally; claws slender, glabrous externally but inner margins and inner surfaces villous; limbs 18-20 mm long, straight, linear acuminate, abaxial limb densely villous, lateral limbs of adaxial perianth sheath densely villous but median adaxial limb glabrous. Anthers 4, filiform, 15 mm long, filaments, 2-3 mm long. Style straight to very slightly adaxially arcuate, 70-90 mm long, 2 mm broad and ancipitous proximally, tapering and terete terminally. Pollen presenter 15 mm long, linear, not clearly differentiated from style. Ovary obconic, 3 mm long, covered with 15-20 mm long straight white hairs. Hypogynous scales ovate, 1.5 mm long. Seedling regeneration after veld fires is invariably quite extensive but, as the growth rate is so inordinately slow, the time interval from germination to first flowering is considerable. Although no precise figures are available, this period must be in excess of 10 years and is probably very much longer February may be regarded as the height of the flowering season, although flowering commences in January and continues until late March with very late inflorescences even opening in April.