Our present illustration was made from specimens growing on the rockeries of the Division of Botany, Pretoria, which were presented by Mr. Silvesta of Port Elizabeth.
DESCRIPTION:--Plants with a very large tuberous stem, partly above ground, with several semi-succulent branches arising from the upper portion of the tuber. _Branches_ with a waxy covering, glabrous or finely hairy when young. _Leaves_ in fascicles, 1-4 cm. long, 2-6 mm. broad, linear or linear-lanceolate, obtuse, with recurved margins, green and pubescent above, paler and tomentose below. _Spines_ arising in groups of 2-3 from an evident cushion, the two lateral spines longer and spreading, the medium spine shorter and erect, sometimes absent. _Flowers_ terminal. _Calyx_ campanulate; lobes narrowly lanceolate, acute, densely pubescent. _Corolla_ twisted in bud; 1-1·5 cm. long, cylindric, pubescent; lobes 1·5 cm. long, 1 cm. broad, obovate, narrowed into a distinct claw, pale pink with dark-red markings. Fruit 6-8 cm. long, spindle-shaped, pubenulous.
PLATE 21.--Fig. 1, plant much reduced; Fig. 2, calyx; Fig. 3, stamen; Fig. 4, style and stigma.
PROTEA, _Linn._; _Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant._ vol. iii. p. 169.
=Protea abyssinica=, _Willd. Sp. Pl._ vol. i. p. 522; _Fl. Cap._ vol. v. sect. 1, p. 581.
The Protea illustrated here is a very common species on the hillsides in the neighbourhood of Pretoria. It sometimes attains a height of 15 feet, is much branched, and has no distinct trunk. We have no record of the species occurring further south, but it certainly extends into Rhodesia, and perhaps--though we have some doubt on this point--into Abyssinia. The species was first described by the botanist Willdenow, under the present specific name in 1797, and he based his description on a figure which appeared in Bruce’s _Travels to discover the Source of the Nile_, which was published in 1790. The point as to whether the Transvaal plant is the same species as that figured by Bruce needs further investigation.
The specimens from which the figure was made were collected by Miss I. C. Verdoorn at Waterkloof, near Pretoria.
DESCRIPTION:--_Branches_ glabrous. _Leaves_ 7-15·5 cm. long, ·8-2·2 cm. broad, narrowly oblong-lanceolate or lanceolate, subacute or obtuse, narrowing to the base, coriaceous, glabrous. _Inflorescence_, 6·3 cm. long, and about 6·3 cm. in diameter when expanded, narrowed into a short scaly stipe. _Involucral-bracts_ 11-seriate, silky; the inner oblong, concave, shorter than the flowers. _Perianth_ with three small teeth at the apex, densely hairy. _Ovary_ covered with a dense tuft of long hairs; style 4·5 cm. long, more or less curved; stigma slightly bent at the junction with the style.