| Protea Books The genus
Protea was named in 1735 by Carolus Linnaeus after the Greek
god Proteus who could change his form at will, because
proteas have such different forms.
Proteas attracted the attention of botanists
visiting the Cape (South Africa) in the 1600s. Many species were
introduced to Europe in the 1700s, enjoying a unique popularity at
the time amongst botanists.
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.
In Africa no member of the Protea genus occurs
further north than the Limpopo River. 92% of the species occur only
in the Cape Floristic Region, a narrow belt of mountainous coastal
land from Clanwilliam to Grahamstown. 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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