seeds can survive such an event. The old, dry, woody, fire-resistant infructescences are persistently retained on the plant for a few years, with the ripe seeds stored inside. When finally released after fires kill the mother plant and open her infructescence, the seeds are dispersed by means of the wind. They germinate during the autumn rains. In 1998 it was as yet unknown which creature may be responsible for pollination of the flowers, strangely, it produces very little nectar, and yet it has the yeasty scent typical of a protea trying to attract rodents or other small mammals as pollinators. One source states it is probably pollinated by birds. According to SANBI in 2019 birds and insects are thought to provide pollination. Conservation Protea pityphylla is a rare plant. Its conservation status was assessed in the 1980 book Threatened plants of southern Africa as 'rare'. In 1996 the South African National Botanical Institute, now the Biodiversity Institute (SANBI), assessed the plant for the Red data list of southern African plants, rating the status of the species as 'not threatened'. In 2009 SANBI re-assessed the status as 'near threatened', but in 2019, in a new assessment, it upgraded the status again to 'vulnerable'. A large amount of plants were eliminated in an area on the mountain above the town of Ceres in the 2010s in order to enlarge the municipal dam. Possible future threats to the species might be the further spread of invasive plants, as well as urban expansion of Ceres. The invasive plants mentioned are specifically Pinus and Acacia, the local Working for Water Project is removing such trees with the stated goal of increasing runoff in the water catchment areas, although this has the added benefit of perhaps helping preserve P. pityphylla. SANBI also lists unspecified natural disasters as a threat. Nonetheless SANBI reports that it believed that the population numbers had continued to remain unchanged as of 2019. References pityphylla Flora of South Africa