The king protea is South Africa’s national flower, and the Proteaceae family encompasses a wide variety of flowers and leaves. Proteas, part of the indigenous fynbos plants, is named after the Greek god Proteus who was able to change into many forms.

While South Africa and the protea and are synonymous with over 330 types found in the country, Australia has the most species with over 850.

The protea family comprises about 80 genera with about 1600 species, including pincushions and cone bush, which are cultivated in South Africa.

The cutflower trade is a growing agricultural sector in South Africa, and protea cultivation plays an important part.

In this Farmer Proud FarmDoc, Hamish Godbold from Zuluflora walks us through the business of protea cultivation in South Africa.