Protea susannae

Protea susannae, commonly the stink-leaf sugarbush, is a shrub or small tree that reaches 2 m but occasionally 4 m in height (SA Tree List No. 98.1). The stem becomes up to 15 cm in diameter. Mature stems are hairless and glaucous.

The leaves have an unpleasant, sulphurous smell, especially when crushed or bruised. Proteas are mostly odourless.

The six or seven series of broadly imbricate involucral bracts in the flowerhead have some brown colouring on the outer surfaces, especially in the outer rows, blending with the pink. This is present even at the budding stage, as seen in the photo.

The species distribution is coastal in the Western Cape, mainly on the Agulhas Plain, from Stanford and Bredasdorp to Riversdale and Stilbaai. 

The habitat is fynbos, strandveld and thicket, mainly in limestone soils. (Most proteas grow in acid soils.) The habitat population is deemed nearly threatened early in the twenty first century, due to decline in the quality of the habitat (Manning, 2009; Coates Palgrave, 2002; Rebelo, 1995; Rourke, 1980; iNaturalist; http://redlist.sanbi.org).