Protea lorea
{{short description|Species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae}}
{{Speciesbox
|image =Protea lorea 15802016.jpg
|image_caption =
| status = NT
| status_system = IUCN3.1
|genus = Protea
|species = lorea
|authority = R.Br.{{Cite web |title=Protea lorea {{!}} International Plant Names Index |url=https://www.ipni.org/n/705928-1 |website=www.ipni.org |publisher=The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Harvard University Herbaria & Libraries and Australian National Botanic Gardens |access-date=19 July 2020}}
| synonyms =
| synonyms_ref =
}}
Protea lorea, also known as the thong-leaf sugarbush,{{cite web |last1=Rebelo |first1=A.G. |last2=Mtshali |first2=H. |last3=von Staden |first3=L. |title=Thong-leaf Sugarbush |website=Red List of South African Plants |version=version 2020.1 |date=14 October 2019 |publisher=South African National Biodiversity Institute |url=http://redlist.sanbi.org/species.php?species=799-78 |access-date=14 July 2020}}{{cite web |title=Protea lorea (Thong-leaf sugarbush) |website=Biodiversity Explorer |publisher=Iziko - Museums of South Africa |url=http://www.biodiversityexplorer.info/plants/proteaceae/protea_lorea.htm |access-date=7 July 2020}}{{cite web |title=Dwarf-tufted Sugarbushes - Proteas |url=https://www.proteaatlas.org.za/sugar13.htm |date=11 March 1998 |website=Protea Atlas Project Website |access-date=14 July 2020}} is a flowering shrub belonging to the genus Protea.
In Afrikaans it is known as sneeugrondsuikerbos.{{cn|date=July 2020}}
Taxonomy
Protea lorea was first described by Robert Brown in his 1810 treatise On the Proteaceae of Jussieu,{{cite journal |last=Brown |first=Robert |author-link=R.Br. |date=1810 |title=On the Proteaceae of Jussieu |url=https://zenodo.org/record/1447522 |journal=Transactions of the Linnean Society of London |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=93 |doi=10.1111/j.1096-3642.1810.tb00013.x |access-date=19 July 2020}} from specimens collected by Francis Masson near the Cape of Good Hope in the early 1770s, and at that time in the herbarium collection of Joseph Banks.
Description
The shrub forms a low mat of one metre in diameter. It blooms in the summer, from January to February, with its large, yellow inflorescences appearing at ground level from small tufts of grass-like leaves. The plant is hermaphroditic, with both sexes in each flower. Pollination probably occurs through the action of birds. The fruits are woody and persistent, which means they are retained on the plant after senescence. The seeds are kept within the dry fruit for a long period, they are released one to two years after the flowers were formed, and are spread through means of the wind.{{cn|date=July 2020}}
It is easily mistaken for the reed-like type of plants known as restios, with which it shares its habitat, and thus has often been overlooked in surveys of local flora.
Distribution
Protea lorea is endemic to South Africa, where it is only found in the Western Cape, from the Wemmershoek Mountains through the mountains of Kogelberg, Riviersonderend, Langeberg, and the Hottentots Holland Mountains of the Helderberg region, to the towns of Ceres and Caledon.
Plants are spatially distributed as scattered individuals in localised areas.
Ecology
Conservation
It is a rare species, and the status of the population was first assessed to be 'near threatened' in 2009 (assessed again as the same in 2019), although the population numbers are believed to be stable. It has a total area of occupancy of around 82 km2, consisting of only twelve known localities. These areas could in the future potentially be threatened by agriculture, afforestation and invasion by alien plants.