Mimetes cucullatus is a species of plant

Plant

Plants are living organisms belonging to the kingdom Plantae. Precise definitions of the kingdom vary, but as the term is used here, plants include familiar organisms such as trees, flowers, herbs, bushes, grasses, vines, ferns, mosses, and green algae. The group is also called green plants or...

 in the Proteaceae

Proteaceae

Proteaceae is a family of flowering plants distributed in the Southern Hemisphere. The family comprises about 80 genera with about 1600 species. Together with the Platanaceae and Nelumbonaceae they make up the order Proteales. Well known genera include Protea, Banksia, Embothrium, Grevillea,...

 family. It is locally known as the rooistompie.

Distribution

It is found growing in the wild in the fynbos

Fynbos

Fynbos is the natural shrubland or heathland vegetation occurring in a small belt of the Western Cape of South Africa, mainly in winter rainfall coastal and mountainous areas with a Mediterranean climate...

 vegetation type of the Cape Floristic Region

Cape floristic region

The Cape Floristic Region is a floristic region located near the southern tip of South Africa. It is the only floristic region of the Cape Floristic Kingdom, and includes only one floristic province, known as the Cape Floristic Province.The Cape Floristic Region, the smallest of the six recognised...

, located in the Western Cape

Western Cape

The Western Cape is a province in the south west of South Africa. The capital is Cape Town. Prior to 1994, the region that now forms the Western Cape was part of the much larger Cape Province...

 of South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

.

Adaptions to Environment

This plant is a resprouter

Resprouter

Resprouters are plant species that are able to survive fire by the activation of dormant vegetative buds to produce regrowth.Plants may resprout by means of lignotubers at the base or epicormic buds on the trunk or major branches....

, which shoots up new growth from its base after a fire. This is unusual for Mimetes, as all other species are re-seeders; their seeds germinate after a fire, but mature plants are killed by fire.

It has protoid roots, which means that this plant's roots are sensitive and must never be disturbed, as this will have an adverse effect on the plant.

Reproduction

This species, along with other members of the genus Mimetes, is adapted to bird pollination.

M. cucullatus shares a characteristic with the rest of the Protoidea: it has special glands on the tips of its leaves, which attracts ant

Ant

Ants are social insects of the family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from wasp-like ancestors in the mid-Cretaceous period between 110 and 130 million years ago and diversified after the rise of flowering plants. More than...

s. It is thought by some that this is a defence mechanism. In addition, ants are the main dispersers of M. cucullata seeds.

Cultivation

M. cucullatus is an unusual and beautiful plant. It is popular with people who have interest in indigenous

Indigenous

Indigenous means: belonging to a certain place.Indigenous may refer to:In Ecology and Geography*Indigenous resources, resources which exist within local geography, that are not imported...

 plants and wildlife gardens.

Due to it being a resprouter, it responds well to severe pruning.