Protea nana

Protea nana

Family: Proteaceae

Common names: Mountain rose, mountain-rose sugarbush, bergroos, warebergroos, skaamblom, skaamroos, skaamrosie

It is a densely branched, small shrub, up to 1.3 m tall, with glabrous, deep green, needle-like, curved leaves, pointing upwards, about 18–30 mm long and 1.0–1.5 mm wide. The branches are gracefully curved carrying beautiful cup-shaped, wine red, pendulous flowers heads, from midwinter to early summer.

Sowing instructions: Sow the seed in late summer to autumn, in a well-drained, coarse, sandy soil, mixed with decomposed pine bark or a commercial fynbos soil mix. The growing media should be acidic with a pH between 5 and 6.7. The drop of night temperature in late summer to autumn is important to help stimulate the germination of fynbos seed. You may treat the seed by dusting with a systemic fungicide containing the active ingredient metalaxyl to prevent damping-off of seedlings.

Locality: Ex Hort. Harvest: February 2025