South Africa's National Flower -
The Protea
![Protea Flower](https://www.floraqueen.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/shutterstock_213151405.jpg)
Proteas date back millions of years
Dating back approximately 300 million years, proteas are considered to be among the oldest families of flowering plants on the planet.
Proteas naturally occur in the Southern Hemisphere
Because of this, it is believed that the protea genus originated on the uper-continent Gondwana. When the continent eventually split, proteas were spread across different continents and countries including Australia, New Zealand and South America.
Proteas can survive wildfires
Dormant buds survive the wildfires that so often clear the dry Cape
land, only to emerge once the fire has gone out. The plants are, as
such, hardy and can withstand the toughest of weather conditions.
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