Protea piscina Rourke

Dwarf, tufted shrublet, forming clumps or mats to 1 m in diam., 300 mm in height. Stems subterranean, highly divaricate, 3-8 mm in diam., glabrous, producing terminal tufts of leaves at ground level; new shoots regenerate from subterranean stems after burning. Leaves acicular-canaliculate to linear and flat, 150-300 mm long, 2-5 mm wide; scabrous, margins horny, apices sharply cuspidate to uncinate; pubescent when young, soon glabrous but occasionally with some pubescence remaining, particularly in the petiolar region. Inflorescences obconic, turbinate, 35-50 mm long, 40-50 mm in diam. Involucral receptacle broadly conic, depressed, 6-15 mm wide, 5-10 mm high. Involucral bracts 4-5 seriate, pale yellow, occasionally flushed with pink; outer series ovate-acute, 5-7 mm wide, 7-10 mm long, margins ciliate; inner series oblong-linear, 20-35 mm long, 2-5 mm wide, apices concave, rounded; covered with a soft, white, sparsely sericeous indumentum. Perianth 30-35 mm long, straight to slightly adaxially arcuate; tube region glabrous, quadrangular, winged, 8-10 mm long, inner surface slightly pubescent distally; claws slender, densely lanate with a shaggy white indumentum, occasionally interspersed with tawny trichomes; limbs 10 mm long, linear, markedly acuminate, with a white lanate indumentum. Style slightly adaxially arcuate, tapering terminally, 30-35 mm long, occasionally puberulous proximally. Pollen presenter simple, linear, acute, scarcely differentiated from style, 5-7 mm long. Ovary 3-5 mm long obconic, covered with long, straight tawny trichomes. Hypogynous scales lanceolate acute, 2 mm long. Flowering times are influenced by the local microclimate. At elevations of between 1000 and 1200 m in the Cold Bokkeveld, brief frosts are occasionally experienced in winter and flowering only commences in November, continuing until January, while at lower, milder localities along the Langeberg (± 400 m), flowering occurs from June to September.