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Afrikaanse Inligting
Fluted Spiderhead - Serruria nervosa
Most of our proteas are relatively well known. Not so the Spiderheads. And especially not the Spiderheads from the Agulhas Plain. At least one species waits to be described. And several species concepts need to be sorted out. The Fluted Spiderhead contains one of these problems. A member of the Curly Spiderheads, it has divided leaves -like all Spiderheads - and flowerheads made up of smaller headlets. The Fluted Spiderhead may be identified by the distinct "flutes" or ridges on the bracts to each flower (you may need your magnifying glass). Now the problem is that this is a variable species. On the mountains it has a form with flowers covered in spiky "spreading" hairs, and on the flats it has silky-smooth "flat" hairs. These are almost certainly different species, but are there only two species? The Protea Atlas Project is helping to collect data that will allow taxonomists to solve some of these problems. By mapping where the different types occur we can help sort out the difficult dilemmas botanists face when deciding when a species is new, or not.