Protea

{{Automatic taxobox
|image =  Protea repens bush.jpg
|image_caption = The original South African "suikerbossie" (sugarbush) Protea repens
|display_parents = 2
|taxon = Protea
|authority = L. (1771), nom. cons.
|subdivision_ranks = Species
|subdivision = See text
|synonyms = 
Chrysodendron 
Erodendrum 
Leucadendron 
Pleuranthe 
Scolymocephalus 
Serraria 
|synonyms_ref = <ref name = powo>[https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:331879-2 Protea] L.] Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 27 September 2023.</ref>
}}Protea () is a genus of South African flowering plants, also called sugarbushes (Afrikaans: suikerbos). It is the type genus of the Proteaceae family.

About 92% of the species occurs only in the Cape Floristic Region, a narrow belt of mountainous coastal land from Clanwilliam to Grahamstown, South Africa. Most protea species are found south of the Limpopo River. Protea madiensis grows in Afromontane enclaves across tropical Africa, from Guinea to Sudan, Mozambique, and Angola. Protea caffra ranges from the Cape region to Uganda and Kenya, including in the chaparral zone of Mount Kenya National Park. The extraordinary richness and diversity of species characteristic of the Cape flora are thought to be caused in part by the diverse landscape, where populations can become isolated from each other and in time develop into separate species.

 Etymology 
The genus Protea was named in 1735 by Carl Linnaeus when he was examining male and female plants of a species now known as Leucadendron argenteum which are very different to each other; he misunderstood them to be two different species, and he compared those forms to the ability of Greek god Proteus who could change his form at will.  Linnaeus's genus was formed by merging a number of genera previously published by Herman Boerhaave, although precisely which of Boerhaave's genera were included in Linnaeus's Protea varied with each of Linnaeus's publications.

 Taxonomy 

The family Proteaceae to which Protea species belong is an ancient one among angiosperms. Evidence from pollen fossils suggests Proteaceae ancestors grew in Gondwana, in the Upper Cretaceous, 75–80 million years ago. The Proteaceae are divided into two subfamilies: the Proteoideae, best represented in southern Africa, and the Grevilleoideae, concentrated in Australia and South America and the other smaller segments of Gondwana that are now part of eastern Asia. Africa shares only one genus with Madagascar, whereas South America and Australia share many common genera – this indicates they separated from Africa before they separated from each other.

 Description 
Proteas usually flower during spring. Protea flowers have large heads made of small florets packed on a woody receptacle, each floret is reddish or pinkish in colour and measures between 28.4 to 53.8 millimetres. The carpel in the flower's centre is cream coloured. The ovary is protected by the receptacle, thus is not seen when looking at the flower, but the anthers are present at the top of the flower, which can then easily transfer the pollen to the vectors. 

Proteas are pollinated by birds, insects, and wind. All the florets open big enough for small and medium beetles to land and feed on their nectar before flying to other heads pollinating them in the process. Some protea flower species, like the king protea flower, are self-pollinating flowers. Other protea species, however, such as P. cordata, P. decurrens, and P. scabra are self-incompatible, thus rely on cross-pollination for successive seed set. T Some Protea species exhibit both self-pollination and cross-pollination as a method of reproduction. Cross-pollination is preferred, though, as a method of reproduction because it provides genetic diversity in the population. When cultivating proteas, breeders use hand pollination as a controlled method to transfer pollen from one flower to another. 

 Genetics 
The common Proteaceae plants, e.g. Protea, Leucospermum, and Leucadendron are diploid organisms, thus they can freely hybridise with closely related species to form new cultivars. Unusually, not all the genera within the family Proteaceae are able to hybridise freely; for example, Leucadendron species cannot be crossed with Leucospermum species because of the difference in their haploid chromosome number (13 and 12, respectively). This genetic incompatibility results in pollinated flowers that yield either no fruit, or seedless fruit, as the resulting plant embryos, from the incompatible pollen and ovum, fail to develop.

Botanical history
Proteas attracted the attention of botanists visiting the Cape of Good Hope in the 17th century. Many species were introduced to Europe in the 18th century, enjoying a unique popularity at the time amongst botanists.

 Cultivation 
Proteas are currently cultivated in over 20 countries. Cultivation is restricted to Mediterranean and subtropical climates. Three categories of traits have to be considered before developing a new cultivar. The yield or production capacity of the cultivar must be considered. The ease of handling and packaging of the cut stems and the last category is to consider the perceived market value of the cultivar. The cultivation of a Protea plant is time-consuming, so good planning when developing the cross combinations and goals are of great importance of the breeding programme.
Classification
Within the huge family Proteaceae, they are a member of the subfamily Proteoideae, which has Southern African and Australian members.

Species

(listed by section: a 'section' has a name in two parts, consisting of the genus name and an epithet).
 Protea sect. LeiocephalaeProtea caffra (common protea)Protea dracomontana (Drakensberg sugarbush)Protea glabra (Clanwilliam sugarbush)Protea inopina (large-nut sugarbush)Protea nitida (wagon tree)Protea nubigena (cloud sugarbush)Protea parvula (dainty sugarbush)Protea petiolaris (sickle-leaf sugarbush)Protea rupicola (krantz sugarbush)Protea simplex (dwarf grassland sugarbush)
 Protea sect. PaludosaeProtea enervis (Chimanimani sugarbush)

 Protea sect. PatentifloraeProtea angolensis (woodland sugarbush)Protea comptonii (saddleback sugarbush)Protea curvata (Barberton sugarbush)Protea laetans (Blyde sugarbush)Protea madiensis (tall woodland sugarbush)Protea rubropilosa (Transvaal sugarbush)Protea rupestris (rocket sugarbush)
 Protea sect. LasiocephalaeProtea gaguedi (African sugarbush)Protea welwitschii (dwarf savanna sugarbush)
 Protea sect. CristataeProtea asymmetrica (Inyanga sugarbush)Protea wentzeliana (Wentzel's sugarbush)
 Protea sect. ProteaProtea cynaroides (king protea)
 Protea sect. ParacynaroidesProtea cryophila (snow protea)Protea pruinosa (frosted sugarbush)Protea scabriuscula (hoary sugarbush)Protea scolopendriifolia (Hart's tongue-fern sugarbush)
 Protea sect. LigulataeProtea burchellii (Burchell's sugarbush)Protea compacta (Bot River sugarbush)Protea eximia (broad-leaf sugarbush)Protea longifolia (long-leaf sugarbush)Protea obtusifolia (limestone sugarbush)Protea pudens (bashful sugarbush)Protea roupelliae (silver sugarbush)Protea susannae (stink-leaf sugarbush)
 Protea sect. MelliferaeProtea aristata (Ladysmith sugarbush)Protea lanceolata (Lance-leaf sugarbush)Protea repens (common sugarbush, Honey flower, Sugarbush)
 Protea sect. SpeciosaeProtea coronata (green sugarbush)Protea grandiceps (red sugarbush)Protea holosericea (saw-edge sugarbush)Protea laurifolia (gray-leaf sugarbush)Protea lepidocarpodendron (black-beard sugarbush)Protea lorifolia (strap-leaf sugarbush)Protea magnifica (queen sugarbush)Protea neriifolia (oleander-leaf protea, narrow-leaf sugarbush)Protea speciosa (brown-beard sugarbush)Protea stokoei (pink sugarbush)
 Protea sect. ExsertaeProtea aurea (common shuttlecock sugarbush)Protea lacticolor (Hottentot sugarbush)Protea mundii (forest sugarbush)Protea punctata (water sugarbush)Protea subvestita (waterlily sugarbush)Protea venusta (creeping beauty)
 Protea sect. MicrogeantaeProtea acaulos (common ground sugarbush)Protea convexa (large-leaf sugarbush)Protea laevis (smooth-leaf sugarbush)Protea revoluta (rolled-leaf sugarbush)Protea angustata (Kleinmond sugarbush)
 Protea sect. CrinitaeProtea foliosa (leafy sugarbush)Protea intonsa (tufted sugarbush)Protea montana (Swartberg sugarbush)Protea tenax (tenacious sugarbush)Protea vogtsiae (Kouga sugarbush)
 Protea sect. PinifoliaProtea acuminata (blackrim sugarbush)Protea canaliculata (groove-leaf sugarbush)Protea nana (mountain-rose sugarbush)Protea pityphylla (Ceres sugarbush)Protea scolymocephala (thistle sugarbush)Protea witzenbergiana (swan sugarbush)
 Protea sect. CraterifoliaProtea effusa (Marloth's sugarbush)Protea namaquana (Kamiesberg sugarbush)Protea pendula (arid sugarbush)Protea recondita (hidden sugarbush)Protea sulphurea (sulphur sugarbush)
 Protea sect. ObvallataeProtea caespitosa (bishop sugarbush)
 Protea sect. SubacaulesProtea aspera (rough-leaf sugarbush)Protea denticulata (tooth-leaf sugarbush)Protea lorea (thong-leaf sugarbush)Protea piscina (Visgat sugarbush)Protea restionifolia (reed-leaf sugarbush)Protea scabra (sandpaper-leaf sugarbush)Protea scorzonerifolia (channel-leaf sugarbush)

 References 

External links

Protea Atlas Project: a project to map the distribution of South African plant species, using Protea'' as a flagship.
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Taxonomy/Browser
Photographs of flowers from many species of Protea 

 
Proteaceae genera
Afrotropical realm flora