Protea Flower Shot In The Dragons Berg Royalty-Free Stock Image

Proteas can survive wildfiresDormant buds survive the wildfires that so often clear the dry Cape land, only to emerge once the fire has gone out. The king protea protea cynaroides took the title of South Africa’s national flower in 1976The king protea, so called because of its resemblance to a crown, is the largest of all proteas and is found in the Cape Floristic region. The flower appears on South African birth certificates and passports, as well as on the South African 5-Rand coin, and the Proteas, South Africa’s cricket team, also took its name from the genus. Proteas made their way to EuropeThe first reference to a protea was found in a book published in Antwerp in 1605, but botanists only officially introduced the plants to Europe in the 1700s.The protea family is large and diverseWith over 1500 species, proteas come in different shapes and sizes, from shrubs to tall trees. Proteas are also known as sugarbushes, due to the excessive amount of nectar the flowers produce. The protea was named and classified in the 1700sThe name “protea” was inspired by Greek mythologyProteas are named after Proteus, son of Poseidon and shape-shifter, highlighting the variety of plants found within the large Proteaceae family. Proteas date back millions of yearsDating back approximately 300 million years, proteas are considered to be among the oldest families of flowering plants on the planet.