Plate 22. 



PBOTEA ABYSSINICA. 



Transvaal, Rhodesia. 



Proteaceae. Tribe Proteeae. 

 Protea, Linn. ; Benth. et Hoolc.f. Gen. Plant, vol. iii. p. 169. 



Protea abyssiniea, Willd. Sp. PI. vol. i. p. 522 ; Fl. Gap. vol. v. sect. 1, 



p. 581. 



The Protea illustrated here is a very common species on 

 the hillsides in the neighbourhood of Pretoria. It sometimes 

 attains a height of 15 feet, is much branched, and has no 

 distinct trunk. We have no record of the species occurring 

 further south, but it certainly extends into Ehodesia, and 

 perhaps — though we have some doubt on this point — into 

 Abyssinia. The species was first described by the botanist 

 Willdenow, under the present specific name in 1797, and he 

 based his description on a figure which appeared in Bruce's 

 Travels to discover the Source of the Nile, which was published 

 in 1790. The point as to whether the Transvaal plant is 

 the same species as that figured by Bruce needs further 

 investigation. 



The specimens from which the figure was made were 

 collected by Miss I. C. Verdoorn at Waterkloof, near Pretoria. 



Description : — Branches glabrous. Leaves 7-15*5 cm. long, 

 •8-2 '2 cm. broad, narrowly oblong-lanceolate or lanceolate, 

 subacute or obtuse, narrowing to the base, coriaceous, glabrous. 

 Inflorescence, 6*3 cm. long, and about 6'3 cm. in diameter 

 when expanded, narrowed into a short scaly stipe. Involucral- 

 bracts 11-seriate, silky ; the inner oblong, concave, shorter 

 than the flowers. Perianth with three small teeth at the 

 apex, densely hairy. Ovary covered with a dense tuft of long 

 hairs ; style 4*5 cm. long, more or less curved ; stigma slightly 

 bent at the junction with the style. 



F.P.S.A., 1921. 



