Colin Paterson-Jones has found two additional mature bushes of Pr gran in the vicinity of Devil's Peak during September 1990. This is reported in his book "Table Mountain Walks", just published by Struik.

No more details are given, other than that the demise of the Red Bearded Protea is almost certainly due to too frequent fires. With a long juvenile period Pr gran only flowers for the first time seven to eight years after germinating. Colin quotes Dr Carl Pappe (first Colonial Botanist of the Cape and first professor of Botany at the South African College (now UCT)) as writing in 1854:
"When 24 years ago I arrived in the Colony, Protea coccinea, one of the handsomest of the proteaceous tribe, adorned the sloping sides of the Devil's Head mountain. Since that period this beautiful shrub has gradually disappeared, and seems now to have been almost annihilated."

It is a pity that Carl Pappe did not elaborate more on the topic. A gradual disappearance of the Red Bearded Protea does not fit in with destruction by fires, which should have been an obvious cause of disappearance. Was picking of flowers not perhaps a cause of plants being "gradually" killed? Furthermore, might populations not perhaps have fluctuate in size. Thus Neville Pillans recorded it as being "locally common on the saddle" in 1919. Probably not - the saddle was probably merely a portion of the species former distribution range on Table Mountain.

Colin hopes that with adequate conservation the species should flourish were it once grew on Table Mountain. However, with only three known plants this is extremely unlikely: without an active breeding programme it is unlikely that this species will survive on Table Mountain. With global warming we can expect the frequency of fires to increase, further threatening species, like Protea grandiceps, which take many years to flower. However, what better emblem, figure head, focus, target or ambassador could one hope for to promote the sound management of the slopes of Table Mountain.

Tony Rebelo, Bellville