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The Proteaceae are an ancient family, probably one of the oldest groups of flowering plants. Scientific probes into the early history of plant life have shown that the ancestors of today's Protea were present 300 million years ago. Proteaceae are best represented in South Africa along the south and south western coastal mountain ranges. The other sub-family is located along the south and south western coastal areas of Australia. No genus is naturally common to both South Africa and Australia. There are some 329 known species of Protea in South Africa. The South African species consist of Protea, Leucadendron and Leucospermum for the most part, while the Australian species is the Banksia. In these areas the flowers are mostly harvested in the wild, though in later years many flower plantations have sprung up for the commercial growing of the flowers. Not all species are commercially viable for one reason or the other.