‖ protea Bot.
(ˈprəʊtiːə)
[mod.L. Prōtea, generic name (Linnæus Hortus Cliffortianus (1737) 29), f. Prōteus (see Proteus), in allusion to the great variety of form of the different species.]
An evergreen shrub or small tree of the genus so called, belonging to the family Proteaceæ, usually native to southern Africa or Australia, and bearing cone-like heads of small flowers with prominent bracts. Also attrib.
| 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp., Protea, in the Linnæan system of botany, a genus..which takes in the lepidocarpodendron, and the hypophyllocarpodendron of Boerhaave. 1770 R. Weston Universal Botanist I. 221 Cape Protea or Silver-tree. 1804 H. C. Andrews Botanists Repository V. tab. cccxlix, From the great number of the divided leaved Proteas, we are led to conjecture, that they are as numerous as those with entire leaves. 1825 Greenhouse Comp. I. 131 Banksias, proteas, acacias, melaleucas, and a few other Cape and Botany Bay plants. 1850 R. G. Cumming Hunter's Life S. Afr. (ed. 2) I. 19 The splendid protea, whose sweets never fail to attract swarms of the insect tribes. 1901 L. H. Bailey Cycl. Amer. Hort. III. 1438/2 Proteas are tender shrubs which are among the most attractive and characteristic plants of the Cape of Good Hope. 1951 [see disa]. 1972 J. Burmeister Running Scared 13 Their daughter had been chosen to present a protea, South Africa's unlovely national flower, to the President. 1972 Palmer & Pitman Trees S. Afr. I. xxiv. 503 The close-set protea leaves may yield as important a source of food to sugarbirds and sunbirds as do the flowers. |