Erect or prostrate suffrutices, shrubs or trees, up to 8 m. Leaves alternate or clustered near the ends of the branches simple, entire. Flowers in dense heads, surrounded by a conspicuous many-seriate involucre of bracts; bracts spirally arranged, very small in the outer series to as large as the flowers in the inner, sometimes brightly coloured. Style terminated by a linear pollen-presenter. Fruit an obconic achene, with the long straight brown hairs persistent. Derivation of name: after Proteus, son of Poseidon, who was able to take on many different forms; referring to the great variability of the genus. Worldwide: c. 100 species in the tropics and South Africa. DRC: 5 taxa. Insects associated with this genus:
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| Species | Botanical divisions | Content |
| angolensis Welw. var. trichanthera (Baker) Brummitt | Description, Image | |
| gaguedi J.F. Gmel. | Description, Image | |
| madiensis Oliv. subsp. madiensis | Description, Image | |
| micans Welw. subsp. suffruticosa (Beard) Chisumpa & Brummitt | ||
| petiolaris (Hiern) Baker subsp. petiolaris | Description, Image |