Protea scolymocephala - Thistle Sugarbush is distinctive with its small, yellow heads and red stems. It is almost certainly one of the more heavily impacted of our Protea species - it was probably common on the Cape Flats from Cape Town to Muizenberg, as well as the Fish Hoek gap.

Pr sphl has been atlassed from relatively large populations on the flats south of Rooikrans, at Kommetjie and Kleinslangkop, at Else Peak, at Karbonkelberg and south and west of Smith's Farm, with odd plants (probably planted) at other places. No plants have been noted in the Constantia and Tokai Forests. Is it extinct there and on the the Cape Flats? We lack seasonal data for Pr sphl in December-January.