We had other problems.

Paranomus bracteolaris and lagopus have an intermediate zone in which it is not clear which is which species. A more careful recording of the taxonomic features distinctive of these two species would have been nice, but older taxonomical works did not often give such information. More work is required here, but we quickly realised this problem and the Protea Atlas Project data will easily help to resolve this problem.

An even more unexpected problem was that of the Western Ground Proteas. The identification was quite simple: if you have a resprouter - Protea acaulos, if killed by fire Pr laevis. However, this posed a major problem when it was found that Pr laev survived fire when the stems were covered by sand. Even the expert, John Rourke, would change his mind from specimens from the same locality if he was told they were resprouting or killed by fire. This must still be resolved. Also, we never found Pr revoluta in large numbers in the Swartruggens as John had said they occurred. Instead we got Pr laevis. More work!