Protea neriifolia red-bearded

Cream, pink or carmine are the listed colour options for the involucral bracts of Protea neriifolia. On the outside surfaces the bracts in picture are cream enough, but inside lemon green might be a closer descriptor. The inside view also discloses the narrowing of the inner bracts low down next to the perianth cone.

The normally black or white beard at the bract tips is here a becoming rusty red, a common hair colour well-known in parts far away from South Africa. But then another colour may indicate a different species? There isn’t one that fits though. Ugly duckling stories, or a deviant from a less favoured minority (or majority) comes to mind among humans. With plants it is mutation, hybrid, subspecies, variety or form that present themselves as options.

Otherwise, it falls within the normal range of colour differences accepted intraspecies. Until someone links the colouring with a geographical area and adds other attributes that fill pages of motivation for a split, plus a new bit of Latin for a name (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; Manning, 2007; Bean and Johns, 2005; Rebelo, 1995; iNaturalist).