Protea acaulos blue-grey leaves

Hard, bluish Protea acaulos leaves on short stems or apparently in ground-level tufts are erect or angled up, the blades wavy. Sometimes lanceolate to oblanceolate as the widest part is nearer the tip than the base, the leaves are here wider, tending to obovate.

Distinct, creamy midribs diminish in visibility and prominence towards leaf-tips. Ascending lateral veins are spaced upon the blades, clearer to see nearer the midribs. Red leaf margins are non-standard, sometimes coloured as the midribs, and mostly so in the lower leaf parts, although some petioles in picture are red. Maybe the colour change gives an indication where leaf becomes petiole, should clarity on the issue matter in any way.

The bare ground around the leaves in this Jonkershoek picture tells about a fire not too long ago. The hard clayey ground hasn’t been mastered by annuals and other seed plants yet, only this tip of the underground Protea stem, a resprouter, has delivered so far, the pioneer of the moment (Manning, 2007; Rebelo, 1995; Rourke, 1980; iNaturalist).