Protea scolymocephala red bract tips

Most Protea scolymocephala flowerheads have creamy green to whitish inside surfaces on their spreading to slightly reflexed bracts. The drawing by Fay Anderson in Rourke’s book does show dark red on both surfaces of the involucral bract tips, as do some iNaturalist photos.

The red-tipped bracts in this photo occur in several of the concentric rings of bracts, although there are also yellow and indifferently coloured inside tips in the head in picture.

The leaves below also vary in their margin and tip colours, some red or yellow but not all, while some tips are dark, nearly black (Manning, 2007; Rebelo, 1995; Rourke, 1980; iNaturalist).