Protea cynaroides young pink bract tips

The soft pink, beak-like Protea cynaroides bract tips seem to pay homage to the newly appearing floret cone in their midst. They focus inwards, loyally serving the central, white woolly mess. For that amorphous bundle in the centre is the start of the fertilisation sequence designed to deliver viable P. cynaroides seeds in the base of the involucre. And therefore the most important plant body part of the moment.

The bracts also fold in, hairy along their margins, slightly uneven on the blade surfaces. They remind of the pink and grey cockatoos or galah cockatoos of Australia that may feed in numbers quite close to people (Manning, 2007; Rebelo, 1995; Rourke, 1980; iNaturalist).