Protea roupelliae subsp. roupelliae flowerheads

The large, cup-shaped to inverted cone-shaped flowerheads of Protea roupelliae subsp. roupelliae grow solitary at stem-tips. They are up to 12 cm long and up to 10 cm wide.

The innermost row of pink, spoon-shaped bracts around the florets are longest (about 10 cm) and taller than the florets in the bract ring. There are five or six rows of these involucral bracts, the shorter outer ones progressively less pink, more brown. The outer surfaces of the bracts vary in silvery hairiness. Some trees produce paler flowerheads.

The trees flower all year round, probably more after rain but mostly from late summer to after midautumn.

Pollinators of this tree protea include sunbirds, particularly the malachite sunbird and also Gurney’s sugarbird (Coates Palgrave, 2002; Rebelo, 1995; Pooley, 1993; Rourke, 1980; iNaturalist).