Home
  Mission
  Overview of Project
  Project Staff
  Sponsors
  Achievements
  Checking, Illustrations
  Upcoming Activities
  Id and  Species Lists
  Protea Information
  Protea Gallery
  Growing Proteas
  Interim Dist. Maps
  Publications
  Afrikaanse Inligting

  SANBI

Aids to Identification Protea lepidocarpodendron and Protea neriifolia

Atlassers in the southwestern Cape and the Peninsula are having difficulty with these two species. Perhaps the most reliable features to look out for are:

Inner involucral bract shape:

Pr lepi: curled over inwards to almost right angles at the tips.

Pr neri: only slightly kinked inwards.

(Colour is not a useful feature as both species have green, cream or pink bracts.)

Outer involucral bracts (colour and margins):

Pr lepi: often brown-grey in colour, contrasting with the inner bracts. Densely edged with silver silky hairs.

Pr neri: similar to inner bracts, although edged brown. Ageing to hairless.

(In both species these split and curl outwards in seedheads.)

Hairs adjacent beard (the diagnostic feature):

Pr lepi: the fine hairs on the outer surface of the inner involucral bracts, just below the beard, are purplish-black. The black pigment dissolves in water and older flower heads may have a dirty appearance following rain.

Pr neri: the fine hairs are silvery-white.

(Beard colour is not a reliable feature: it may be white and/or black in both species.)

Leaf margins:

Pr lepi: prominent, horny margins

Pr neri: hair-fine margins.

(Do not rely on the colour of the margins: these vary from yellow to red).

Leaf base:

Pr lepi: the leaf base may taper abruptly or even be folded (and shaped like an ear-lobe). It seldom tapers gradually.

Pr neri: the leaf base tapers gradually.

Size: Pr lepi is slightly smaller than Pr neri. Thus (in mm):

Location: Only Pr lepi occurs naturally on the Cape Peninsula: the record of Pr neri from Cape Town itself is apparently incorrect, being a misidentified Pr lepi. Both species occur naturally from Somerset West to Bot River and Hermanus: Pr neri preferring sandy soils derived from sandstone or, rarely, granite, whereas Pr lepi prefers clay (Cedarberg formation at Kleinmond) and ferricrete (sands with the koffee-klip near the surface) soils. Pr neri of course also occurs near Tulbagh in the north and to Port Elizabeth in the east.

Tony Rebelo, Bellville

Back PAN 9