Protea nitida tree in flower

Protea nitida trees (SA Tree List No. 86) reach 7 m if they grow single stems from the base. Shorter and wider ones result from much branching low down. 

In flower a thriving waboom tree is an impressive sight. The flowers are usually creamy white, but solitary pink mutant trees are sometimes seen in various parts of the Western Cape. The species is closely related to the summer rainfall species Protea caffra with its pink flowers, but otherwise similar looks. Although the two species are climatically and geographically discrete, the occasional pink flowering P. nitida makes one wonder about things that happened in nature in the distant past of this land (Rourke, 1980; Coates Palgrave, 2002).