Protea nana, also known as the mountain rose or mountain-rose sugarbush, is a flowering shrub which belongs within the genus Protea. Common names In the Afrikaans language the following vernacular names have been recorded for this plant: bergroos, warebergroos, skaamblom, skaamroos and skaamrosie. The name skaamblom translates as 'shy' or 'bashful' flower, and possibly refers to the nodding, downward-pointing inflorescences. It was first attested in the 1929 article titled Gewone Plantname in die Distrik Riversdal by Muir in Die Huisgenoot. Taxonomy The species was first described according to the modern Linnaean system as Leucadendron nanum by Peter Jonas Bergius in 1766. Five years later Linnaeus described the same species as Protea rosacea, a heterotypic synonym. It had already been described before these two authors as Thymelæa æthiopica abietiforriiis floribus phœniceis in a 1700 work by Leonard Plukenet. In 1781 Carl Peter Thunberg moved the taxon to the genus Protea. It was originally described as occurring in the mountains of the Roode Zant region, an area which is now known as Witzenberg. Etymology The specific epithet nana is derived from the Latin word for 'dwarf', and this was chosen in reference to the relatively small inflorescences. Description Protea nana grows as a small shrub which is shaped roundish in profile, is highly branched, and becomes 1.3 m high. In cultivation plants live up to approximately ten years. The branches curve gracefully outward when laden by blooms. They are coloured green when young and in their first season, but turn red in the following season, eventually turning brown when mature. The leaves are glabrous, coloured deep green, soft and needle-shaped. These needles all curve upwards, and are about 18–30 mm long, and 1.0–1.5 mm wide. It blooms in midwinter to early summer, primarily from July to October, but more broadly from June to November. The plant is monoecious with both sexes in each flower. The inflorescences are subtended by oval-shaped, bright red to crimson bracts, within which numerous, much shorter, crimson-coloured flowers reside. The colour may also vary from burgundy, or a dirty, faded red to pale green. These inflorescences are cup-shaped, pendulous (pointed downward), and nod in the wind. The flowers have a characteristic yeasty odour. The fruits ripen after some seven months. The fruits are woody and persistent, which means they are retained on the plant after senescence. The seed is kept within the dry fruit for several years, and