''Protea repens'', known as the common sugarbush and in Afrikaans as the suikerbossie, is an erect shrub growing in the southern regions of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. Related to other

protea ''Protea'' () is a genus of South African flowering plants, also called sugarbushes (Afrikaans: ''suikerbos''). Etymology The genus ''Protea'' was named in 1735 by Carl Linnaeus, possibly after the Greek god Proteus, who could change his form a ...

s, this plant is a relatively adaptable and variable species and can be found growing widely in various soils. Due to its showy flowers and adaptability, it is a popular garden subject for use in wildlife gardens in South Africa.

Etymology

The name of the plant family Proteaceae as well as the genus ''Protea'', both to which ''P. repens'' belongs to, derive from the name of the Greek god

Proteus In Greek mythology, Proteus (; Ancient Greek: Πρωτεύς, ''Prōteus'') is an early prophetic sea-god or god of rivers and oceanic bodies of water, one of several deities whom Homer calls the "Old Man of the Sea" ''(hálios gérôn)''. ...

, a deity that was able to change between many forms. This is an appropriate image, seeing as both the family and the genus are known for their astonishing variety and diversity of flowers and leaves. The specific epithet ''repens'' means 'creeping', a case of mistaken identity, where Linnaeus used two different illustrated plates to describe the species: one was of ''P. repens'', and the other showed a dwarf creeping plant of a different species.

Description

''Protea repens'' is a dense shrub growing between in height. The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

s, ranging in colour from deep red to a creamy white, are borne at the end of the branch, often nestled between two growing branchlets.

Habitat

This species grows widely in

fynbos Fynbos (; meaning fine plants) is a small belt of natural shrubland or heathland vegetation located in the Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces of South Africa. This area is predominantly coastal and mountainous, with a Mediterranean clim ...

on a variety of soils. Like many other ''Protea'' species, ''P. repens'' is adapted to an environment in which bushfires are essential for reproduction and regeneration. Most ''Protea'' species can be placed in one of two broad groups according to their response to fire: ''reseeders'' are killed by fire, but fire also triggers the release of their canopy seed bank, thus promoting recruitment of the next generation; ''

resprouter Resprouters are plant species that are able to survive fire by the activation of dormant vegetative buds to produce regrowth. Plants may resprout from a bud bank that can be located in different places, including in the trunk or major branches (e ...

s'' survive fire, resprouting from a

lignotuber A lignotuber is a woody swelling of the root crown possessed by some plants as a protection against destruction of the plant stem, such as by fire. Other woody plants may develop basal burls as a similar survival strategy, often as a response t ...

or, more rarely,

epicormic bud An epicormic shoot is a shoot growing from an epicormic bud, which lies underneath the bark of a trunk, stem, or branch of a plant. Epicormic buds lie dormant beneath the bark, their growth suppressed by hormones from active shoots higher up ...

s protected by thick bark. ''P. repens'' is a reseeder, where its life cycle depends on its seeds which may have been stored underground by ants or remained on the old flowerheads.

Ecology

This species' large showy inflorescences are pollinated by both nectarivorous birds and insects, such as the Cape Honeybee.

Cultivation and human uses

Due to the large amount of nectar it produces, people have historically boiled down this nectar to make a syrup called ''bossiestroop''. This species is hardy to zone (UK) 9 and is frost tender.

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from= repens Flora of the Cape Provinces Garden plants of Southern Africa