four, inserted into the concave tips of the perigone, filaments short, 
anthers linear, or tapering, yellow. Ovary oblong, hairy, style one, 
awl-shaped, stigma slender, projecting beyond the perigon, of a bright 
red colour. NuT hairy, crowned by the persistent style. 
Popu.ar anp GeocrapuicaL Notice. This most magnificent spe- 
cies, even of the superb genus Protea, is a native of the Cape of Good 
Hope, growing on the sides and summits of mountains. It is, indeed, 
a wonderful thing to see a flower of its size, nearly as large as a child’s 
head, borne on so diminutive a stem, for it is sometimes scarcely one 
foot in height. Protea grandiflora which comes nearest this in the 
size of the flower, hasa tall branched stem. Protea pulchra and Pro- 
tea speciosa, have likewise large heads of flowers, yet far inferior to 
the present subject, the dimensions of which cannot be estimated from 
‘the plate, as the figure is reduced to at least half the natural size. A 
question may be asked, what purpose does this extraordinary magnifi- 
cence in the flower serve? It is at present impossible to answer, as no 
direct use is made of any part of the numerous species of Protea, except 
for firewood; yet the flower of Protea rubens and Protea mellifera 
contain much sweet juice, which would be acceptable to the bees if they 
grew in the open air, Common as Proteaceous plants are in Austra- 
lia, not one species of the genus Protea has been found there; indeed, 
they are strictly confined to the Cape of Good Hope, save one, Protea 
abyssinica, mentioned in Bruce’s Travels, quarto edition, vol. V, appen- 
dix, p. 52, with a plate. 
INTRODUCTION; WHERE GROWN; CuLTuRE. This plant was intro- 
duced into Britain, in 1792, by Messrs. Lee and Kennedy, Hammer- 
smith nursery. It is a hardy greenhouse plant. “The best soil 
‘is light turfy loam, mixed with rather more than one third of fine sand; 
the pots must be well-drained with broken potsherds. Care must be 
taken not to let them droop for want of water, as the young roots are 
of a very fleshy substance, and soon suffer by two much drought, as 
~ well as by too much wet, so that they seldom recover, if suffered to 
flag too much. They also like to be placed where they may have a 
free circulation of air, as they cannot bear to be crowded, like some 
more rigid-growing plants. Ripened cuttings, taken off at a joint, 
and pared quite smooth, will strike root, if planted thinly in pots of 
sand, placed under a eae Hat not plunged: the glasses must be 
often taken off, to give them a 
phere OF +EE iste 
Pe OTEA, from Proteus, fish 
Cynaromes, from cynara, the ear and vides, resemblance. 
NONYMES. 
PROTEA CYNAROIDES. Tia ioe, Prodromus Flore Capensis, 28, 
sertation, 59. Linneus, abstinent 180, Andrews’s Botanist’s Repository, IV. 
pl. 288 tanical Magazine, 
