‘Part of South Africa's DNA': Iconic national flower protea blooms far from home as climate shifts native range
JOHANNESBURG, June 23 — On his farm two hours north of Johannesburg, Nico Thuynsma gestured towards thousands of orange, yellow and pink proteas in flower and thriving 1,500 kilometres from their natural home at the southern tip of Africa.
'They're all different,' the 55-year-old farmer said of the assorted blooms from the diverse Proteaceae family that has more than 350 species in South Africa, from firework-like 'pincushion' varieties to delicate 'blushing brides'.
He picked out a majestic pink and white crown, nearly the size of his head, that has taken four years to reach its impressive size. 'The King Proteas are very slow to grow,' Thuynsma said.
The largest of the proteas, the King Protea, is South Africa's national flower.
Protea flower grower Nico Thuynsma collects one of the Protea flower species growing at his fam in Cullinan, east of Pretoria June 3, 2025. — AFP pic
It has lent its name to the national cricket team and countless brands. It features on the currency and is the logo for South Africa's presidency this year of the G20 group of leading economies, which convenes a summit in November.
It is also the country's largest flower export with more than 10 million stems sent abroad last year, worth close to 275 million rand (RM63 million), according to the Cape Flora industry organisation.
Its status offers the King Protea some protection but almost half of South Africa's other protea species face extinction because of pressures on their native habitats in the mountains of the Cape, according to South Africa's National Biodiversity Institute (Sanbi).
These include habitat loss to agriculture, the proliferation of invasive alien species and 'changes to natural fire cycles', Sanbi said in a 2021 report.
Biologist at the University of Pretoria Professor Nigel Barker poses for a photograph in Pretoria on June 3, 2025. Professor Nigel Barker is studying the King Protea at a cellular and genetic level. Their research is uncovering how the plant responds to environmental stress and how its natural resilience might be enhanced to adapt to a hotter, more unpredictable climate. — AFP pic
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'People come to South Africa to see proteas,' Nigel Barker, a professor in plant sciences at the University of Pretoria, told AFP. 'It's the plant equivalent of the elephant or the lion.'
Most proteas are endemic or semi-endemic to the Cape Floral Kingdom biome of 'fynbos' ('fine bush') that stretches across the southern tip of South Africa and is one of the world's richest flora biodiversity hotspots.
But climate projections predict 'hotter, drier conditions', Barker said. 'We'll be looking at a completely different vegetation type in the future, semi-desert almost in some places.'
'Many species, because they're so range-restricted, will probably go extinct under those scenarios,' he said.
'The only solution we have is to cultivate them artificially... in greenhouses or farms where you control irrigation,' Barker said.
An example is Thuynsma's farm in the grasslands of the north, where he began planting proteas three decades ago.
Here, winters are dry and frosty, and the summers rainy — conditions very different to those in the far south where the proteas are at home.
Protea flower grower Nico Thuynsma poses for a photograph inside a greenhouse at his fam in Cullinan, east of Pretoria June 3, 2025. Thuynsma is experimenting with different seed varieties to find out which ones can thrive in drier, hotter conditions. His farm has become a testing ground for the future of the species, as climate zones shift northward. — AFP pic
Gel for irrigation
Through trial and error, Thuynsma has been able to cultivate close to 200 protea varieties, including some long forgotten and abandoned by farmers in their original habitats.
In his latest experiment, he has planted 36 varieties with just two litres of saturated gel for irrigation.
'I hope to unlock the power of some of these varieties,' Thuynsma said. 'They come from the Western Cape out of very harsh conditions, so they do have it in them.'
'I learn from them, I learn with them. And, hopefully, in the future I can advise my nursery public — and even estates — how to plant this lovely fynbos without irrigation,' he said.
'I don't think I have a solution for climate change,' he joked, crouched over a small seedling in freshly turned soil. 'But I do have a solution: to plant proteas.'
A few metres away, in a warm nursery, thousands of protea sprouts awaited their turn in the soil.
'I love them, I protect them, I collect them,' Thuynsma said. 'The protea is part of South Africa's DNA.' — ETX Studio
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