We anticipated some problems before the Protea Atlas Project got started.

For instance, there are the Stigmatic Conebushes.

Three of the species in this group are known to present a problem. For instance, Leucadendron tinctum is known to grade into Ld pubibracteolatum around the George area, and Ld orientale is an extreme form from the Loerie area. There are other species in this section (which give the other colours to the Grid Cells on the map), which although problematic, do not impinge on this particular problem.

Atlassers found more populations of these species. Thus the intermediate zone between Ld tinctum and pubibracteolatum was found to be far more extensive than previously thought. Moreover, the feature (those distinguishing pubibracteolatum) of the ridged fruit started further east than the feature of the hairy male floral bracts. Also, the upright growth habit occurred well west of these. Clearly more work needs to be done. Atlassers disagree as to whether these are two species, or two subspecies of a single species! However, apart from this intermediate zone, the two are quite distinct in the field.

However, we obtained a major range extension of Ld pubibracteolatum to the east at Kareedouw, and major range extensions for Ld orientale to the Cockscomb Mountains - smack into problems between distinguishing these two species. More work is clearly needed.

And then we found Ld "touwsrivierensis" which is clearly closely related to Ld tinctum as well (although it looks more like Ld orientale in is general impression of size and shape (or Jizz).