Protea odorata Thunb.

A small, erect, sparsely branched, straggling shrub 0.7-1.2 m in height, with a single main stem to 20 mm in diam. Stems slender, 3-4 mm in diam., glabrous, slightly flexuose. Leaves ascending, linear, 25-65 mm long, 1.5-2 mm wide, broadly canaliculate on under surface, margins revolute; apex mucronate, terminating in an obliquely deflected spine; glabrous, dull glaucous but margins reddish. Inflorescence conic acute in bud, stellate when open, 20-30 mm in diam. Involucral receptacle broadly convex, 5 mm in diam. Involucral bracts 3-4 seriate, glabrous; outer series narrowly ovate, acuminate, 4-6 mm long, 2-6 mm wide; inner series lanceolate to narrowly lanceolate, acuminate, 10-20 mm long, 2-5 mm wide, margins occasionally minutely ciliate; patent when open, creamy-white, the apices flushed with pink. Perianth 15-17 mm long, straight, glabrous externally except for prominently crinite apices of perianth limbs; tube 5 mm long, glabrous, externally ridged; claws almost as broad as tube region; limbs 5 mm long, linear-cymbiform acute, apices crinite with stiff, erect, white bristles. Anthers 4, subsessile, filiform. Style straight, 15-17 mm long, with a prominently obconic swelling proximally, tapering distally. Pollen presenter straight, slender, 4 mm long, slightly geniculate at junction with style. Ovary obconic, 2 mm long, covered with straight white trichomes. Hypogynous scales 0.5-0.7 mm long, ovate. Flowering takes place at the end of summer in the hottest, driest period of the year, beginning in late February, reaching a peak in March and April, eventually tailing off into June.