Silver Pagoda

Mimetes argenteus is a shrub reaching about 2 m (6½ ft) in height. Its leaves are elliptic and silvery, standing at a right angle from the branches. The inflorescences are 8–15 cm (3–6 in) long and 10–12 cm (4–5 in) in diameter, with smaller silvery pink leaves at the crest. Each inflorescence consists of many flower heads, each in the axil of a leaf flushed mauve to carmine. The plant is native to the Western Cape province of South Africa and is known in English as the Silver Pagoda or silver-leaved bottlebrush, and as vaalstompie in Afrikaans. It was published in 1809 and is part of the Proteaceae family.