Notice

Colin Mills, compiler of the Hortus Camdenensis, died in late November 2012 after a short illness. As he always considered the Hortus his legacy, it is his family's intention to keep the site running in perpetuity. It will not, however, be updated in the near future.

Leucadendron argenteum R.Br.

Short-lived dioecious tree with lance-shaped leaves, densely covered with silky hairs and terminal heads of small flowers surrounded by prominent bracts.  To 9m.  [RHSD, Hortus].

Horticultural & Botanical History

‘Long as this plant has been cultivated in gardens, it so rarely produces flowers under cultivation, that a coloured figure of it is now for the first time presented to the public.  Our drawing was made from fine specimens obligingly communicated to us by Mr. Miller, of Bristol, in June last.  Like Mr. Brown, we have not been so fortunate as to see the female inflorescence.  The plant now figured was a male.  At the Cape of Good Hope L. argenteum is of great importance for fire-wood.  Its only native station in the Colony is “the sloping ground at the foot of the eastern side of Table Mountain,” where, and on the northern side, large plantations now occupy the soil.  By the Dutch Colonists it is called Witteboom, or Silver Tree.  In this country it forms a neat ornament of the green-house, where its beautiful silvery leaves furnish a strong but agreeable contrast with the more common green colour of other plants.’  [BR f.979/1826].

History at Camden Park

Protea argentea is marked with a ‘c’ in an 1836 edition of Loddiges’ catalogue held at Camden Park [CPA].  In William Macarthur’s code, used and explained elsewhere, this means grown at Camden.  It is almost certain that it was grown in the gardens around this time but may have been short lived as it did not appear in the catalogues.

Notes

Published Apr 01, 2010 - 04:53 PM | Last updated Apr 01, 2010 - 04:58 PM

Figured are whorls of lance-shaped leaves and small, terminal, globular male flower.  Botanical Register f.976, 1826.

Leucadendron argenteum R.Br. | BR f.979/1826 | BHL

Family Proteaceae
Category
Region of origin

South Africa, Cape district

Synonyms
  • Protea argentea L.
Common Name

Cape silver tree

Name in the Camden Park Record

Protea argentea 

Confidence level high