behind the centre. The stigma is 3.5mm long and has an obtuse (blunt) end. Similar species It is quite distinctive in appearance, with long leaves for a needle-leaved Protea. It is closely related to P. witzenbergiana, but this larger species has shorter leaves which are coloured grey as opposed to bright green, and hairy stems which creep along the ground. It is also related to the P. nana, but this species has smaller flower heads. It was initially confused with P. canaliculata, another relative in the section Pinifolia. Phillips, when he originally described it in 1910, compared it with P. rosacea, as P. nana was known at the time, but distinguishes it by having outer bracts that end in a sharp point, and also with P. witzenbergiana, distinguishing it by longer leaves and a larger flower head. In his key to the species of Protea in 1912, Stapf also groups these three species together, finding it most similar to P. witzenbergiana. He distinguishes the two species from each other by the leaf length, but also by P. witzenbergiana having branches clothed in shaggy (villous) hairs as opposed to a glabrous surface. The two are distinguished from P. rosacea (P. nana) by having their lower-most involucral bracts growing into leafy-looking appendages. Staph thus discards the character of a sharp bract apex used Phillips, describing P. pityphylla as having variably a sharp or rounded tip. Distribution This species has a very restricted range, occurring in an area of occupancy of only 88 km2, and it is known from only five localities. It is endemic to the Western Cape province of South Africa. Protea pityphylla is found on the mountains surrounding the Ceres valley: the Skurweberg Mountains, Hex River Mountains, and Olifants River Mountains. In the Hex River Mountains it can be found from Ceres to the Sanddrift Peaks. It occurs on Michell's Pass in the Skurweberge. There is an outlying population on the Dasklip Pass. In the few locations where it does occur, it can grow relatively densely in small isolated stands. Ecology Protea pityphylla grows in mountainous areas in between large rocks and boulders, at altitudes of 500 to 1,500 metres. The species is restricted to a single habitat which the same source describes as fynbos on sandstone-derived soils and later as high-altitude fynbos on shale-derived soils. The periodic wildfires which burn through this habitat destroy the adult plants, but the