Protea lacticolor flowerhead

A Protea lacticolor flowerhead has either a white, milk-coloured involucre as the specific name indicates, or a pink one, in various pale shades. The outer part of the head is formed by five or six rows of bracts. It becomes cone-shaped, the wide end at the top once fully open, inverted to the base in bud and later during fruiting. The longest bracts are the inside ring, broadly oblong with whitehaired margins, the outer bracts progressively shorter, wider and ovate in shape. The bract surfaces are all densely silky and short-haired, the margins white or brown from fringes of longer hairs. The heads are 6 cm to 8 cm long and 5 cm to 6 cm wide when flowering.

The straight perianths are white or tinged red, up to 7 cm long. The styles are up to 7 cm long, the pollen presenters at their tips at least 1 cm. The pollen presenters are thread-like, bent at the base, curving inwards and ending in a skew knob.

The fruits are hairy nutlets retained in the old involucres (Coates Palgrave, 2002; Rebelo, 1995; Bond and Goldblatt, 1984; Rourke, 1980; iNaturalist).