Protea laurifolia

Protea laurifolia, the greyleaf sugarbush or in Afrikaans the louriersuikerbos (laurel sugarbush) after the specific name, laurifolia that likens the leaves to those of the laurel tree, is a large, lax shrub to a small, sturdy tree of up to 8 m (SA Tree List No. 90,2). The stout, short main trunk reaches 30 cm in diameter. Single-stemmed, the species does not resprout after fire.

The grey-green to blue-green leaves are elliptic, hairless when mature. Cream or pink flowerheads with black beard on the involucral bract tips become about 5 cm in diameter. Flowering happens in late autumn and winter.

The distribution is mainly in a part of the Western Cape, from Nieuwoudtville and the Bokkeveld Escarpment to the Little Karoo, slightly into the southwest of the Northern Cape. The photo was taken at Hebron farm on the mountain near Piketberg during August.

The habitat is sandstone, shale and granite slopes in arid fynbos and renosterveld at elevations from 100 m to 1200. The habitat population is deemed of least concern early in the twenty first century (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; Manning, 2007; Rebelo, 1995; Rourke, 1980; iNaturalist; http://redlist.sanbi.org).