Protea laurifolia stem-tips

New stem-tip leaves of Protea laurifolia ascend in a neat ring around the centre, whether a flowerhead is surrounded there or only anticipated.

The leaves are here slightly obovate rather than elliptic and curiously asymmetrical in several cases. The smooth leaf margins, a pale cream here, end in tiny leaf-tip mucros or pointed protrusions on some leaves. Most leaves in picture have rounded tips.

The imbricate bracts of the budding flowerhead are not as regular in pattern as one might expect. The inner ones protrude progressively further until those in the lowest couple of rows settle for less ambitious and similar lengths (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; Coates Palgrave, 2002; Rebello, 1995; Rourke, 1980; iNaturalist).