Protea caffra subsp. caffra
Author: Ivan Lätti
Photographer: Judd Kirkel Welwitch
Protea caffra subsp. caffra, known as the common sugarbush, is an erect shrub or small, gnarled tree reaching heights around 8 m and spreading at least as widely (SA Tree List No. 87). These trees or shrubs may grow solitary or form colonies and dominate in some countrysides.
The species distribution is in the east of South Africa, from the east of the Eastern Cape, across KwaZulu-Natal and part of the eastern Free State to all the provinces north of the Vaal River; also in some neighbouring countries.
The habitat is rocky ridges and mountain slopes in grassland and at high elevations where mist-belt conditions prevail. The habitat population of the subspecies is deemed of least concern early in the twenty first century (Manning, 2009; Coates Palgrave, 2002; Rebelo, 1995; Rourke, 1980; iNaturalist; http://redlist.sanbi.org).