Biology:Protea

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Short description: Genus of South African flowering plants

Protea
Protea repens bush.jpg
The original South African "suikerbossie" (sugarbush) Protea repens
Scientific classification e
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Proteales
Family: Proteaceae
Subfamily: Proteoideae
Tribe: Proteeae
Genus: Protea
L. (1771), nom. cons.
Species

See text

Synonyms[1]
  • Chrysodendron Vaill. ex Meisn. (1856)
  • Erodendrum Salisb. (1807)
  • Leucadendron L. (1753), nom. rej.
  • Pleuranthe Salisb. (1809)
  • Scolymocephalus Kuntze (1891)
  • Serraria Adans. (1763), nom. superfl.

Protea (/ˈproʊtiːə/[2]) is a genus of South African flowering plants, also called sugarbushes (Afrikaans: suikerbos). It is the type genus of the Proteaceae family.[3]

About 92% of the species occurs only in the Cape Floristic Region, a narrow belt of mountainous coastal land from Clanwilliam to Grahamstown, South Africa. Most protea species are found south of the Limpopo River. Protea madiensis grows in Afromontane enclaves across tropical Africa, from Guinea to Sudan, Mozambique, and Angola.[4] Protea caffra ranges from the Cape region to Uganda and Kenya, including in the chaparral zone of Mount Kenya National Park. The extraordinary richness and diversity of species characteristic of the Cape flora are thought to be caused in part by the diverse landscape, where populations can become isolated from each other and in time develop into separate species.

Etymology

The genus Protea was named in 1735 by Carl Linnaeus when he was examining male and female plants of a species now known as Leucadendron argenteum which are very different to each other; he misunderstood them to be two different species, and he compared those forms to the ability of Greek god Proteus who could change his form at will.[5][6] Linnaeus's genus was formed by merging a number of genera previously published by Herman Boerhaave, although precisely which of Boerhaave's genera were included in Linnaeus's Protea varied with each of Linnaeus's publications.

Taxonomy

Protea eximia flower.

The family Proteaceae to which Protea species belong is an ancient one among angiosperms. Evidence from pollen fossils suggests Proteaceae ancestors grew in Gondwana, in the Upper Cretaceous, 75–80 million years ago.[7] The Proteaceae are divided into two subfamilies: the Proteoideae, best represented in southern Africa, and the Grevilleoideae, concentrated in Australia and South America and the other smaller segments of Gondwana that are now part of eastern Asia. Africa shares only one genus with Madagascar , whereas South America and Australia share many common genera – this indicates they separated from Africa before they separated from each other.

Description

Proteas usually flower during spring. Protea flowers have large heads made of small florets packed on a woody receptacle, each floret is reddish or pinkish in colour and measures between 28.4 to 53.8 millimetres. The carpel in the flower's centre is cream coloured.[8] The ovary is protected by the receptacle, thus is not seen when looking at the flower, but the anthers are present at the top of the flower, which can then easily transfer the pollen to the vectors.

Proteas are pollinated by birds, insects, and wind. All the florets open big enough for small and medium beetles to land and feed on their nectar before flying to other heads pollinating them in the process.[8] Some protea flower species, like the king protea flower, are self-pollinating flowers. Other protea species, however, such as P. cordata, P. decurrens, and P. scabra are self-incompatible, thus rely on cross-pollination for successive seed set. T Some Protea species exhibit both self-pollination and cross-pollination as a method of reproduction. Cross-pollination is preferred, though, as a method of reproduction because it provides genetic diversity in the population. When cultivating proteas, breeders use hand pollination as a controlled method to transfer pollen from one flower to another.

Genetics

The common Proteaceae plants, e.g. Protea, Leucospermum, and Leucadendron are diploid organisms, thus they can freely hybridise with closely related species to form new cultivars. Unusually, not all the genera within the family Proteaceae are able to hybridise freely; for example, Leucadendron species cannot be crossed with Leucospermum species because of the difference in their haploid chromosome number (13 and 12, respectively). This genetic incompatibility results in pollinated flowers that yield either no fruit, or seedless fruit, as the resulting plant embryos, from the incompatible pollen and ovum, fail to develop.

Botanical history

Proteas attracted the attention of botanists visiting the Cape of Good Hope in the 17th century. Many species were introduced to Europe in the 18th century, enjoying a unique popularity at the time amongst botanists.

Cultivation

Proteas are currently cultivated in over 20 countries. Cultivation is restricted to Mediterranean and subtropical climates.[9] Three categories of traits have to be considered before developing a new cultivar. The yield or production capacity of the cultivar must be considered. The ease of handling and packaging of the cut stems and the last category is to consider the perceived market value of the cultivar.[10] The cultivation of a Protea plant is time-consuming, so good planning when developing the cross combinations and goals are of great importance of the breeding programme.[10]

Classification

Within the huge family Proteaceae, they are a member of the subfamily Proteoideae, which has Southern African and Australian members.

Species

Protea caffra, the common protea
Main page: Biology:List of Protea species

(listed by section: a 'section' has a name in two parts, consisting of the genus name and an epithet).

Dried head of P. madiensis shedding mature fruit

References

  1. ↑ Protea L.] Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 27 September 2023.
  2. ↑ Protea (3rd ed.), Oxford University Press, September 2005, http://oed.com/search?searchType=dictionary&q=Protea  (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
    Sunset Western Garden Book, 1995:606–607
  3. ↑ "Protea L.". Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. 2023. https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:331879-2. 
  4. ↑ Protea madiensis Oliv. Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 27 September 2023].
  5. ↑ Ben-Jaacov, Jaacov; Silber, Avner (2006). "Leucadendron: A Major Proteaceous Crop". in Janick, Jules. Horticultural Reviews. 32. Hoboken, New Jersey, USA: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.. p. 169. ISBN 978-0-471-73216-7. https://books.google.com/books?id=wNZ2ODMVzkkC&q=protea+proteus. 
  6. ↑ Rourke, John P. (1982). The Proteas of Southern Africa. Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa: Centaur Publishing. pp. 44–46. ISBN 0908379102. https://books.google.com/books?id=199FAAAAYAAJ&q=proteus. 
  7. ↑ Dettmann, Mary E.; Jarzen, David M. (April 1991). "Pollen evidence for Late Cretaceous differentiation of Proteaceae in southern polar forests". Canadian Journal of Botany 69 (4): 901–906. doi:10.1139/b91-116. 
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Steenhuisen, Sandy-Lynn; Johnson, Steven D. (May 2012). "Evidence for beetle pollination in the African grassland sugarbushes (Protea: Proteaceae)". Plant Systematics and Evolution 298 (5): 857–869. doi:10.1007/s00606-012-0589-5. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/257447283. 
  9. ↑ Malan, Gerhard (2012). Protea cultivation from concept to carton. Stellenbosche, Western Cape, South Africa: Sun Media. p. 21. ISBN 978-0-620-55300-1. 
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Littlejohn, G. M. (2002). Breeding Technology for Protea. Fynbos Research. p. 1. 

External links

Wikidata ☰ Q227822 entry



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