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A New Transgeneric Hybrid
At the AGT 1999 we had problems with the Sp tulbaghensis reputed to occur at Kliphuis in the GrootWinterhoek Wilderness Area. The plants keyed out as Sp caudata, despite the flowerheads being too silver and compact and the plants too sparse, and despite the sites bearing labels to their being 1971 Forestry Monitoring Plots for Sp tulbaghensis. We decided to atlas them as Sp caudata. When I gave John an ultimatum on sorting out the issue, he came back and lambasted me – it was neither! Could I not recognize a new species when I saw one?
Well, John Rourke, Colin Paterson-Jones, Riaan van der Walt, Ismail Ebrahim and I got in the Mazda and visited the site. John Rourke was despondent – it was Sp caudata, but a funny form and only a semi-exciting range extension. The population extended over the hill to the south, over three times the area first thought to be covered. How did the Kliphuis group miss the S extent?
However, Ismail made up for the disappointment by finding a hybrid between Sp caudata and So scabridus. This is only the second inter-generic hybrid in our proteas (Ls oleifolium X Di thymelaeoides from Bettys Bay is the other). This attests to the close relationship between the two genera. (Heaven forbid, John even mentioned sinking the two genera!). However, the flowers are not exciting, so this form will not be commercially available. Also, the habitat requirements of the parent species (deep sands, covered with fresh, moving water for most of the year), mean that this will not be an easy species to grow at Kirstenbosch.
Tony Rebelo
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