Protea dracomontana rounded surfaces, rounded edges

    Protea dracomontana rounded surfaces, rounded edges
    Author: Ivan Lätti
    Photographer: Judd Kirkel Welwitch

    The whitish involucre of a Protea dracomontana flowerhead consists of rows of evenly overlapping, round-tipped and incurving bracts protecting the numerous florets that will each produce one seed. A percentage of them usually succeeds here in the Drakensberg grassland. 

    Success is manifested in another flowering shrub appearing in the grass. In a few years it will flower during the first three months of the calendar year. Its seeds will be dispersed by wind nearly a year after flowering.

    The cycle of life continues for the species that survive (Rebelo, 1995; Rourke, 1980; iNaturalist; Wikipedia).

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