Protea magnifica flowerhead

The cup-shaped flowerheads of Protea magnifica are magnificent as the plant’s specific name indicates. They may become wider than 15 cm in diameter. The bracts are carmine, pink, pale green or cream coloured with silky surfaces. The bract tips are densely covered in white, brown or black hairs.  In the picture some bracts in the outer, lower rows have dried, brown tips, curving outwards.

The styles, initially covered by the perianths in the central cone of flowers inside the spreading bracts, reach lengths of 6 cm to 7 cm. Each perianth has three awns, tipped with blackish purple hairs. Blooming starts in winter and continues to midsummer, peaking at the end of winter and during spring. The fruit is a small hairy nut (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; Coates Palgrave, 2002; Rebelo, 1995; Rourke, 1980; iNaturalist).