Protea mucronifolia, the daggerleaf sugarbush

Developed Protea mucronifolia flowerhead buds are pointed, white with dark tips on most of the even more acutely pointed involucral bracts that make up their outer covers. By contrast, the open flowerheads have their involucres spreading widely, even when the central cone of unopened florets is still intact and no pollen presenters are erect yet.

The plant’s stems are yellow-green at their tips, soon turning orange-brown.

Pale midribs are prominent on the leaf undersurfaces, while the sessile leaves may have a short cream patch at their bases, here noticed on some lower surfaces. The leaves are glabrous, i.e. hairless.

The photo was taken in the Elandsberg Nature Reserve at Bartholomeusklip (Bond and Goldblatt, 1984; Rourke, 1980; iNaturalist).