which surround the actual flowers. The upper margin of the bracts are tipped with velvety brown hairs. The flowers are narrow and tubular. The plant is monoecious with both sexes in each flower. Blooming plants have a strong yeasty smell. Even in cultivation, the plants do not flower every year, and on most years only two or three flower heads are produced by a plant. The seed is stored in a capsule which is held within the woody, dried, fire-resistant inflorescence, which is itself retained on the plant after senescence ('persistent'). The seeds are released one to two years after flowering, after wildfires cause the fruits to open. Seeds are dispersed through means of the wind. Distribution Protea angustata is endemic to the Western Cape province of South Africa. It has a limited distribution, occurring along a narrow band which mirrors the coastline in the southwestern Cape Region, usually not further inland than 5 km from the sea. The largest population is in the neighbourhood of Brightwater, in Cape Town, with perhaps 50% of the total population being found here. The three largest populations are found in Pringle Bay, Onrusrivier and Kleinmond, all areas in the vicinity of Cape Town which are experiencing rapid urban development. There are only a few plants east of the town of Hermanus, but the majority of the world population is found in the lands westwards from there until Pringle Bay. It is also found from the Kogelberg mountains, across to the Groenland mountains and Kleinrivier mountains. Somewhat isolated populations occur on the Caledon Swartberg. The spatial distribution of the species is spread out, with individual plants usually not found near each other. Ecology It is found in the southern foothills of the coastal mountains. The plant grows on flats and on gentle slopes facing the sea, in sand and in clay soils, It usually grows in a fynbos habitat in deep, white, sandy soils, but the plants growing at the Kleinmond locality are found growing in a coastal brush in shale-derived soils. It grows in a region with a temperate climate, in which the rainfall primarily occurs during winter. at altitudes from sea-level to 180 metres. Pollination likely occurs through the action of mice, rats, birds and/or insects. According to one source, mice are the most likely pollinators, based on the fact that the flowers have a typical smell, are low to the ground,