Protea
11*14"
Oil on Canvas
$100
The Protea is the National flower of South Africa. Here is a little extract from Wikipedia:
Etymology
The genus Protea was named in 1735 by
Carl Linnaeus after the Greek god
Proteus, who could change his form at will, because proteas have such a wide variety of forms.
Taxonomy
The Proteaceae family to which proteas belong is an ancient one. Its ancestors grew in
Gondwanaland, 300 million years ago. Proteaceae is divided into two subfamilies: the Proteoideae, best represented in southern
Africa, and the
Grevilleoideae, concentrated in
Australia and
South America and the other smaller segments of Gondwanaland that are now part of eastern
Asia. Africa shares only one genus with
Madagascar, whereas South America and Australia share many common genera — this indicates they separated from Africa before they separated from each other.
Distribution
Most protea occur south of the
Limpopo River. However,
Protea kilimanjaro is found in the
chaparral zone of
Mount Kenya National Park. 92% of the species occur only in the
Cape Floristic Region, a narrow belt of mountainous coastal land from Clanwilliam to Grahamstown, South Africa. The extraordinary richness and diversity of species characteristic of the Cape Flora is thought to be caused in part by the diverse landscape where populations can become isolated from each other and in time develop into separate species.
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