Conospermum bracteosum explained

Conospermum bracteosum is a species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is an erect, spindly shrub with egg-shaped leaves, sometimes with the narrower end towards the base, and spikes of silky, woolly, tube-shaped white flowers.

Description

Conospermum bracteosum is an erect, spindly shrub that typically grows to a height of and has egg-shaped leaves, sometimes with the narrower end towards the base, long and wide. The leaves at the base of the plant are on a petiole, but the leaves on the stem are hairy, white, overlapping, sessile and stem-clasping. The flowers are arranged in many spikes in upper leaf axils, each with up to 10 flowers, with egg-shaped bracteoles long and wide. The petals are joined at the base to form a silky-woolly tube, long, the upper lip long and wide, the lower lip with linear lobes long and about wide. Flowering occurs from September to November and the fruit is a nut about long, wide and covered with golden hairs.[1]

Taxonomy

Conospermum bracteosum was first formally described in 1845 by Carl Meissner in Lehmann's Plantae Preissianae from specimens collected in 1841.[2] [3] The specific epithet (bracteosum) means "having many, or large bracts".[4]

Distribution and habitat

This species of Conospermum grows in sand, often over laterite, between Narrogin and Ravensthorpe in the Avon Wheatbelt, Esperance Plains and Mallee bioregions of south-western Western Australia.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Bennett . Elizabeth M. . Conospermum bracteosum . Flora of Australia. Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water: Canberra. . 6 July 2024.
  2. Web site: Conospermum bracteosum . Australian Plant Name Index . 6 July 2024.
  3. Book: Meissner . Carl . Lehmann . Jacob W.L. . Plantae preissianae sive enumeratio plantarum quas in australasia occidentali et meridionali-occidentali annis 1838-1841 collegit Ludovicus Preiss . 1845 . Sumptibus Meissneri . Hamburg . 518–519 . 6 July 2024.
  4. Book: George . Alex . Sharr . Francis . Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings . 2021 . Four Gables Press . Kardinya, WA . 9780958034180 . 149 . 4th.