20 



PLATE 218. 



PROTEA HIETA, Klotsch (ex Krauss, in Flora xxviii. (1845) 76). 

 Natural Order, PEOTBAOEJ;. 



A low shrub with one or several stems from a thick woody root, sparingly 

 branching. Stems 1-3 feet high, terete or subterete, pilose with white hairs, light 

 green. Leaves alternate, exstipulate, sessile, narrowly oblong, obtuse at apex, 

 gradually tapering to base, margins quite entire, midvein distinct, lateral ones 

 immersed, pilose on both surfaces, 2-5 inches long, -|-2 inches wide. Flowers in 

 terminal heads surrounded by a many leaved invohicre ; dull white Involucre of 

 many imbricate scales in several rows, the lowest 2-3 lines long, deltoid, the 

 others gradually larger upwards, and more spreading, the uppermost oblong- 

 spathulate, 1-2 inches long, 5-7 lines wide in upper portion, patent or at length 

 reflexed ; all white and silky villous externally, glabrous within. Receptacle 

 convex, honeycombed, and clothed with long white hairs between the cells, margins 

 of cells deeply toothed. Perianth of 4 elongated lobes, 3 of which cohere, the 

 other free ; widened at base and apex, slender in central portion, densely pilose 

 externally, glabrous within, the upper third coriaceous; 1-| 2 inches long. Stamens 

 4, on corolla tube, included, filaments decurrent on the tube. Anthers linear- 

 elongate, 2-celled, connective thickened at apex, and produced beyond the cells. 

 Ovary superior, 1-celled, 1-ovuled, the ovule pendent from wall of the cell. Style 

 filiform, stigma minute, obtuse. Hypogynous scales 4, minute. Nut densely 

 covered with rusty hairs. 



Habitat : NATAL : From coast to Drakensberg. Inanda, 1,800 feet alt, June, 

 Wood 577. 



Drawn and described from specimens gathered near Durban, March, 1900. 



The genus Protea contains 60 or more species, the greater number of which 

 are natives of South Africa, one or two only being found in Tropical Africa and 

 Abyssinia. In Natal we have not more than 4 or 5 species, P. hirta being pro- 

 bably the best known, as it is found from near the sea to the uplands of the 

 Colony. The flowers are said to secrete an abundance of nectar, and are much 

 visited by bees, hence the popular name " Sugar Bush." 



Fig. 1 , a flower ; 2, upper portion of 3-fid perianth lobes with anthers ; 3, 

 lower portion of same with hypogynous scales ; 4, ovary showing position of 

 ovule ; all enlarged. 



