Protea angustata, also known as the Kleinmond sugarbush, is a flowering shrub that belongs to the genus Protea. This plant is endemic to the south-west Cape Region of South Africa. Taxonomy Protea angustata was first discovered in 1801, growing in the mountains near Houwhoek Pass, by the Scotsman James Niven. It was first described by Robert Brown in his 1810 treatise On the Proteaceae of Jussieu. Otto Kuntze moved it to Scolymocephalus angustatus in 1891, but by 1912 it was being referred to as a Protea again. The specific epithet is derived from the Latin word for 'narrowed', in reference to its leaves. Description This dwarf shrublet is small and only grows up to 35 cm in height. It can eventually forms an extensive subterranean mat of up to 1.5 metres across, above which sparsely distributed tufts of leaves poke above the soil. The plants are very cryptic and hard to spot, not only being rare, but also concealed in form among similar-looking restios. Much of the plant remains below the ground, and it is thus well protected from the wildfires that burn through its habitat from time to time. There is a thick, woody rootstock, from which numerous underground stems branch out. Perhaps because it has the ability to re-sprout after wildfires, old shrubs remain growing in isolated remnant habitat with high persistence. This species is believed become very old, having a generation length of more than a century. In cultivation, the shrubs only begin to bloom after their seventh year. The leaves are very long and narrow, and blend in with the other reed-like ground plants of its habitat. They are smooth and hairless (glabrous), curve upwards, and measure some 12 to 25 cm in length, and 2–8 mm in width. The leaves are usually flat, but may also sometimes have an in-rolled margin. The tip is pointed and the base, where the leaf attaches to the stem, tapers slowly in width to the broadest part of the leaf. It blooms from July to October, with the peak being in early September. It only produces a few, small, greenish-cream flower heads close to the ground level. These flower heads are positioned laterally on the stems (not at the tips, so with leaves growing above them), are cup-shaped, only 3 to 4.5 cm in width, this including the 22–28 mm long bracts of a "creamy green to apple-green" colour,