:: protea ::

Named after the Greek sea god, Proteus, who could shape and form at will, the protea or sugarbush as it is also called, has a great number of varieties and hails from South Africa, where it represents hope and change.

The protea is also found in South America and Australia and evidence from pollen fossils has shown that protea ancestors grew in Gondwana land, 75-80 million years ago in the upper cretaceous epoch/layer. The family of Proteaceae is divided into the Proteoideae and Grevilleoideae subfamilies. The first are mostly found in Southern Africa, while the latter are mostly in Australia and South America. Africa shares only one genus with Madagascar while Australia and South America share many common genera — and the fascinating conclusion that can be drawn from this is that it tends to indicate that Australia and South America separated from Africa before they separated from each other!