Protea cynaroides is visited by nectar feeding birds, such as Sugarbirds and Sunbirds, and by bees and beetles, but it is the birds that pollinate the flowers. As they feed on the nectar in the flowers, their heads touch the pollen presenters and transfer pollen from flower to flower.

The flowers in the centre of the flower head open over a fairly long period of time, which makes it such a stunning sight in the garden for weeks at a time as well as a long lasting cut flower. The flowers are also visited by Scarab Beetles and Protea Beetles and many other insects, including bees, as well as by birds. The birds are attracted by the nectar as well as by the insects visiting the flowers. The large flower heads produce a disappointingly small amount of good seeds, only 1 - 30 percent of flowers result in seed. The plant's need to produce nutrient-rich seeds in a nutrient-poor environment is thought to limit the amount of seeds it can produce. The seeds are quite large nuts, covered by hairs and stay in the old flower head for a year or more. They are released after a fire and dispersed by wind, rodents and birds.

Protea cynaroides occurs in fire prone vegetation, where natural fires occur every ten to thirty years. This 'Mediterranean' type of vegetation grows in soils with very low amounts of nutrients. These nutrients are used up by the plants during their lifetime and need to be returned to the soil to provide the food for a new generation of plants. Protea cynaroides is adapted to survive the fires by its thick underground stem, known as a lignotuber, which contains many dormant buds; these will produce the new growth after the fire.