Protea subvestita (Protea subvestita)

Description

Protea is both the botanical name and the English common name of a genus of South African flowering plants, sometimes also called sugarbushes (Afrikaans: suikerbos) or Fynbos. In local tradition, the Protea flower represents change and hope. Most proteas occur south of the Limpopo River. However, Protea kilimanjaro is found in the chaparral zone of Mount Kenya National Park. 92% of the species occurs only in the Cape Floristic Region, a narrow belt of mountainous coastal land from Clanwilliam to Grahamstown, South Africa. 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. Proteas are currently cultivated in over 20 countries. Cultivation is restricted to Mediterranean and sub tropical climates. There are three categories of traits that has to be considered before developing a new cultivar. The yield or production capacity of the cultivar has to 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 The cultivation of a Protea plant is time consuming and therefore good planning when developing the cross combinations and goals is of great importance of the breeding programme. Some Protea flower species, like the King Protea flower, are self-pollinating flowers. Other Protea species, however, like the Protea cordata, Protea decurrens and the Protea scabra are self-incompatible and thus rely on cross-pollination for successive seed set. The main vectors responsible for the transfer of pollen in Protea cultivation are birds, insects and wind. There are some Protea species which exhibit both self-pollination as well as cross-pollination as a method of reproduction. Cross-pollination is however preferred 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. The following steps are used by breeders to perform hand pollination