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Proteas: The long journey from field to vase

Christmas flowers are a mixed bunch. The British shopper won’t countenance a tulip in October (“so unnatural”) but by December we are ready for anything that looks properly exotic – a poinsettia (dyed blue, glitter optional) or, perhaps, a bouquet of South African proteas.

With their startling fibre-optic flowers, proteas look more like spiny coral-reef dwellers than a plant, but over the past 30 years they have become popular cut flowers. They’re sold everywhere, from supermarkets to market stalls, usually in bunches with heathery “greens” harvested from their native South African fynbos, a heath-like habitat. 

Proteas are on sale 52 weeks a year but demand reaches a peak at Christmas – according to Marks & Spencer, sales increase by 500 per cent over the preceding months.

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