Saturday Snapshots #80

King Protea – December 2009

The King Protea or Protea Cynaroides is a flowering plant in the family Proteaceae (which family, incidentally, belongs to the same order of plants as plane trees and lotus flowers – the order Proteales).  Proteaceae are mainly southern hemisphere plants, with the greatest concentrations of diversity being in Southern Africa and Australia.  It is a good example of a Gondwanan family, or a family of plants that developed on the supercontinent Gondwanaland before it split up into the continents we know today, explaining how closely related species occur in far flung locations.

The King Protea has the largest flower head in the family (6 inches or more in diameter), and it is also the national flower of South Africa.

This is part of a series of non-food photographs that will be published every Saturday on CookSister. All photographs previously featured may be viewed on my Saturday Snapshot archive pages. Many photos featured in Saturday Snapshots are available to buy as high-quality greeting cards or prints in my RedBubble store. They make gifts, for friends or for yourself!

**H2Ope for Haiti update** Please remember that the deadline for entering the H2Ope for Haiti charity raffle is midnight GMT on Sunday 7 March. The event is raising money for Concern Worldwide, a well-established charity that was already operating in Haiti at the time of the January 12th quake, meaning they could mobilize faster than most to receive and distribute aid to those in the greatest need, including hundreds of thousands of litres of clean drinking water. There are still a few prizes with no or very few tickets sold – so for £6.50 (about $10), you could have a 100% chance of winning an original photographic print (Berry Flag), a free photo restoration, a customised tote bag, a child’s Winter Olympics backpack and fleece blanket, a piece of Care Ware jewellery, or a $50 CSN Stores voucher.  Plus there are many more prizes where you have a 50% chance of winning – and who can say no to those odds??  I hope that everyone reading this can see their way clear to buying just one ticket – pretty please??