THE PROTEA FAMILY 



PROTEACE^ J. St. Hilaire 



HIS family comprises some 50 genera, containing about 100 species of 

 trees, shrubs or perennial herbs of the warmer regions of the southern 

 hemisphere, being most abundant in southern Africa. They are of no 

 special economic value; the seeds of several are eaten like nuts, either 

 raw or roasted, the timber of some is of local importance, but they are grown 

 widely for ornament or for their curious flowers. 



The Proteaceae have alternate, rarely opposite or whorled, simple or compoimd, 

 usually hard and dryish leaves. The flowers are usually perfect, sometimes polyg- 

 amous or dioecious; the perianth is in one series of 4 partly united divisions; 

 stamens as many as there are parts of the perianth, upon which they are borne ; 

 the ovary consists of a single carpel, which is free and i -celled, more or less oblique; 

 style terminal; stigma disk-like, nipple-shaped or capitate; ovules i or 2. The 

 fruit is dehiscent or indehiscent, often follicular or capsular; seed without 

 endosperm. 



One arborescent species has become adventive in warmer portions of our area. 



SILK OAK 



GENUS GREVILLEA ROBERT BROWN 

 Species Grevillea robusta A. Cunningham 



fiN Australian tree which has become spontaneous in Florida and Cali- 

 fornia, having escaped from gardens, where it is cultivated for orna- 

 ment and has reached a height of 20 meters. In its native home, 

 however, it attains a height of 45 meters, with a trunk diameter of 

 at least 9 dm. 



The twigs are rather stout, very silky-hairy at first, becoming smooth and gray. 

 The leaves are alternate, membranous and dryish, bi-pinnately parted, 2 to 

 4 dm. long, the segments narrow, entire or more or less incised on the margin 

 and sharp or taper-pointed, light green and smooth above, pale or brownish silky- 

 hairy with prominent veins beneath, the leaf-stalk long, channelled and abruptly 

 thickened at the base. The flowers are golden-yellow and very showy, in terminal 

 many-flowered panicles i to 2 dm. long; they are irregular but perfect; their 

 perianth is oblique, its lobes elliptic or oval; stamens 4; anthers sessile or nearly 



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