Common Sugarbush

Appearance

Upright shrub to small tree 3 – 8m in height with a definite main stem up to 400mm in diameter, crown uneven and spreading. Bark black to dark brown with net-like fissures when mature. Leaves linear-elliptic to linear-falcate, narrow to broadly elliptic, narrow to broadly invert lanceolate, occasionally falcate; 70 – 250mm in length, 4 – 45mm wide, tips blunt to acuminate; smooth, leathery to thin and papery, light green to glaucous green, have a tendency to clump in each year's growth. Flowers carried at the end of leafy twigs 4 – 12mm in diameter, usually singly but up to 4 heads may be grouped at the tip; globose to egg-shaped, broad and shallow when fully open, 45 – 80mm in diameter, base broad convex to flat, 20 – 30mm in diameter. Involucral bracts in 6 – 8 series; outer series broad oval to deltoid, 10 – 20mm wide, 5 – 7mm long, usually with silky silvery pelt of varying thickness at the distal ends but may be hairless, closely and densely shingled; inner series elongated to broadly elongated spatulate, 30 – 50mm long, 10 – 20mm wide, tips rounded to almost acuminate, slightly concave, smooth, varying in color from pale cream to brick red; very variable.

Naming

*''P. caffra caffra''
⤷ ''P. caffra gazensis''
⤷ ''P. caffra kilimandscharic''
⤷ ''P. caffra mafingensis''
⤷ ''P. caffra nyasea''

Distribution

''Protea caffra'' subsp. ''caffra'' is widely distributed across the eastern reaches of South Africa and Lesotho. It prefers poor, quartzitic, acidic soils, but is equally at home on a wide variety of well-drained soils and has even been found on alkaline dolomitic soils. It occurs from sea level to 2100m, always on southern slopes where the terrain is broken and rocky, or mountainous. It usually forms open stands in which it is the single large shrub or tree; these stands can cover large areas.

''Protea caffra'' subsp. ''gazensis'' occurs in the Eastern Highlands along the border of Mozambique and Zimbabwe, including the Nyanga Mountains and Chimanimani Mountains, and on Mount Gorongosa in Mozambique. It occurs in grasslands and shrublands from 1500 to 2100 meters elevation.