Conospermum microflorum explained

Conospermum microflorum is a species of flowering plant of the family Proteaceae and is endemic to Western Australia. It is a rounded shrub with glabrous, thread-like leaves, panicles of woolly hairy, white or cream coloured flowers and woolly hairy, orange-brown nuts.

Description

Conospermum microflorum is a rounded shrub that typically grows to a height of up to . Its leaves are glabrous, threadlike, long and wide, with a brown, pointed tip. The flowers are arranged in panicles of elongated spikes on a peduncle long with densely hairy, egg-shaped bracteoles long and wide. The perianth is covered with white or cream-coloured hairs, and forms a tube long. The upper lip is egg-shaped, long and wide with a brown tip, the lower lip joined for with oblong lobes long and wide. Flowering occurs from September to October, and the fruit is a nut long and wide covered with orange-brown, woolly hairs.[1]

Taxonomy

Conospermum microflorum was first formally described in 1995 by Eleanor Marion Bennett in the Flora of Australia, from specimens she collected about north of Geraldton in 1985.[2] The specific epithet (microflorum) means 'small-flowered'.[3]

Distribution and habitat

The species of Conospermum grows in yellow sand on plains between the bridge on the Murchison River and Shark Bay in the Carnarvon, Geraldton Sandplains and Yalgoo bioregions of Western Australia.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Bennett . Eleanor M. . Conospermum microflorum . Flora of Australia. Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water: Canberra . 29 September 2024.
  2. Web site: Conospermum microflorum . Australian Plant Name Index . 29 September 2024.
  3. Book: George . Alex . Sharr . Francis . Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings . 2021 . Four Gables Press . Kardinya, WA . 9780958034180 . 252 . 4th.