The Amazing Pincushion Protea

Pincushion Protea, Leucospermum, blooming in the back yard for the first time!  I've been waiting for this little beauty to bloom for several years now.  It's finally big enough to bloom...and, better yet, it survived the drought and the sprinkler system outage.  What more can you ask for?

Springtime in the Back Yard

Leucospermum (Protea family) blooming in the back yard. While it would be inaccurate to say that the back yard is "awash" in flowers, there are a lot of fun things blooming. The Leucospermum have been in bloom for a week or two now and the hummingbirds have been busily pollinating them. The seeds will actually germinate as well although I haven't actually raised any up past seedling stage.

Just Another Really Cool, Hairy Leucospermum

Leucospermum blooming at the Armstrong Garden Center in Mission Valley. They are totally cool up close.

Protea Biology

Red Protea Hybrid, Leucospermum. A photo in indoor lighting of the latest addition to my back yard menagerie. Leucospermum flowers appear to actually be an aggregation of a cluster of tiny flowers.

The hairs probably have something to do with pollinator specificity. It appears that, when in active bloom, Leucospermum are pollinated by birds, sugarbirds and sunbirds who perch on the flower heads or the stems and probe into the flower head in search of nectar. However, the Leucospermum seeds have an elaiosome that attracts ants who carry the seeds away to their nests to consume the elaiosome while dispersing the seeds which eventually grow, particularly after fires. Thus, the hairs may keep the ants out while the plants are in active bloom but the elaiosome serves as an ant attractant to the withered flowers with mature seed.