#oh boy can I even call myself botanist? i got a bachelors degree in biology and did focus on botany in the last semesters

[travellingdragon]

‘I wonder if it is not the effects of the protea,’ Dorset said absently, poking through the pot with a stick and fishing out the remnants of a spiny blossom. ‘I do not believe we have seen it used as an ingredient before. The Cape vegetation has quite a unique construction within the plant kingdom. I must send the children for some specimens.’

Empire of Ivory, chapter 6

As a botanist (which I guess I kinda am? a bit?) I'm so exited at this throwaway mention of the very unique vegetation of the Cape region! Capensis is the smallest of the foral kingdoms and developed as it did because it was isolated from the Palaeotropis to the north by deserts, Protea is one of its notable genera.