''Sorocephalus crassifolius'', the flowerless clusterhead, is a flowering shrub that belongs to the family ''

Proteaceae The Proteaceae form a family (biology), family of flowering plants predominantly distributed in the Southern Hemisphere. The family comprises 83 genus, genera with about 1,660 known species. Australia and South Africa have the greatest concentr ...

''. It is part of the South African

fynbos Fynbos (; , ) is a small belt of natural shrubland or heathland vegetation located in the Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces of South Africa. The area is predominantly coastal and mountainous, with a Mediterranean climate. The fynbos ...

vegetation type. The plant is endemic to the

Western Cape The Western Cape ( ; , ) is a provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the List of South African provinces by area, fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , an ...

where it occurs on the Riviersonderendberge. The plants were last seen in flower in the 1980s. There are only fifteen plants left. The shrub grows only tall, tends to spread and flowers from December to February. The plant sprouts again after a fire. The plant is

bisexual Bisexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior toward both males and females. It may also be defined as the attraction to more than one gender, to people of both the same and different gender, or the attraction t ...

and pollination takes place through the action of insects. Two months after the plant has flowered, the fruit ripens and the seeds fall to the ground where they are spread by ants. The plant grows at elevations of .

References

Sources

REDLIST Sanbi

Protea Atlas

Plants of the World Online
Sorocephalus Endemic flora of the Cape Provinces Fynbos Taxa named by John Hutchinson (botanist) {{Proteaceae-stub