Leon Kluge introduces us to one of South Africa’s most unusual proteas. The rare awl-leaf sugarbush attracts mice and shrews instead of bees and birds!
Gansbaai, South Africa (20 July 2026) – Fresh off his win at the world’s largest tropical flower and garden show, Leon Kluge is back home with another fascinating plant find! This time he shines a light on one of South Africa’s strangest proteas that can’t be found anywhere else on earth.
His latest find came while hiking a trail through Grootbos Nature Reserve, where he spotted the Protea subulifolia, also known as the awl-leaf sugarbush.
Unlike the proteas most South Africans would recognise, this species is a low-growing shrub that hides among the grasses. It has fine, narrow leaves and flowers that emerge from the base of the plant, looking more like little mushrooms than the big, colourful blooms the Protea family is famous for.
Instead of relying on birds or insects for pollination, the awl-leaf sugarbush has evolved to attract rodents. At night, the flowers release a yeasty scent that draws in tiny four-legged visitors like mice and shrews.
It’s also an increasingly rare sight. Much of the plant’s natural habitat has been lost to agriculture.
To better understand the species, conservationists at Grootbos have set up camera traps around the plants to monitor their nighttime visitors. According to Kluge, the reserve has already recorded four different rodent species stopping by for a pollen snack.
“Protea subulifolia or sometimes known as the awl-leaf sugarbush is such a unusual Protea, the small plant hides low to the ground and looks more like a little Buchu than a Protea- but the flowers give it away- beautiful large clusters of flowers appear from the base of the plant, papery and velvet to the touch, brown in color – but strong in its yeasty scent- attracting many species of rodent that come to nibble on the pollen during the night. A rare sight these days as farming claimed most of its habitat.” shares Kluge.
Sources: Linked above.
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