Protea sulphurea
species of plant
Protea sulphurea, also known as the sulphur sugarbush, is a flowering plant of the genus Protea in the family Proteaceae, which is only known to grow in the wild in the Western Cape province of South Africa. A vernacular name for the plant in the Afrikaans language is heuningkoeksuikerbos or Skaamblom (shy flower) .
Taxonomy
Protea sulphurea was first described by Edwin Percy Phillips in 1910. A type series (#3208) was originally collected by the German explorer Rudolf Marloth in 1903; there are at least three specimen sheets labelled as Marloth3208 housed at the Kew Herbarium. Another, possibly older, specimen was also collected by one Pearson (perhaps Thomas Pearson Stokoe), who was possibly the first European to collect this species. Phillips gives neither a type for the taxon, nor an etymology for the specific epithet. Otto Stapf designated the Pearson collection as the holotype in 1912, but in 1972 John Patrick Rourke overturned this for some reason, and selected one of the three sheets of Marloth's collections at Kew as the lectotype.
Description
This species grows into a low, squat, woody, densely-branched shrub up to 0.5 1.8 or 2 m tall. The branches are glabrous. The leaves are glaucous (or yellowish when dry or during droughts), indistinctly veined, minutely rugulose (having a finely wrinkled surface and texture), 2–3 centimetres (0.79–1.18 in) long, and 6 to 13 mm broad.
The public source identifies “Protea sulphurea” as species of plant. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Protea, sulphurea and species.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Protea sulphurea”, the useful work is to connect “species of plant” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Stable identifiers, scientific names and standards terminology offer the best bridge between this overview and specialist evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 16, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q18082431. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1910, 1903, 1912 and 1972.
Scientific names, classifications and consensus can change while older terminology persists in catalogues and historical literature. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Protea sulphurea” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.