Protea angolensis

Description

The leaves are leathery and hairless, green to bluish-green, oval-shaped, and measure 16x8 cm in size. The inflorescences (flowerheads) are solitary and may grow to approximately 10x12 cm in size, sometimes smaller, 8-12 cm in diameter. The involucral bracts a pale green to bright pink or red colour. The inner bracts may be either heavily or sparely covered in silvery silky hairs. This difference is often due to the age of the inflorescence, the hairs falling off as the structure becomes older. The fruit is a densely hairy nut.

GBIF recognizes three varieties:

• var. divaricata: A small tree to 4 m in height. Occurs in miombo. It flowers later than the nominate form, from April to July. The flowers and bracts are bright pink, dark pink to red.
• var. roseola
• var. trichanthera

Distribution

This species occurs in northern, central and eastern Zimbabwe, throughout Zambia, western Angola, southern Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi, southern and western Tanzania, and to a limited extent in Mozambique

Ecology

The species is the host plant for the larvae of the butterflies Capys disjunctus and C. connexivus.

References

References

1. Hyde, Mark. (2000). "''Protea angolensis'' Welw. var. ''angolensis''". Mark Hyde, Bart Wursten, Petra Ballings and Meg Coates Palgrave.
2. van Wyk, Braam. (1997). "Field Guide to trees of South Africa". Struik.
3. Huchzermeyer, Carl. (February 2011). "Zambian plants". Carl Huchzermeyer.
4. "Protea angolensis Welw.".