Conospermum polycephalum explained

Conospermum polycephalum is a species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a spindly or semi-prostrate shrub with dense, thread-like leaves at the base of the plant, and panicles of white, pink or blue, tube-shaped flowers, the fruit a hairy, cream-coloured nut.

Description

Conospermum polycephalum is a spindly or semi-prostrate shrub that typically grows to a height of, sometimes to . It has dense, thread-like leaves, long and wide at the base of the stem. The flowers are arranged in panicles on a peduncle long, with bluish-green egg-shaped bracteoles long and wide on the peduncle. The flowers are white, pink or blue, and form a tube long. The upper lip is elliptic to egg-shaped, long and wide and the lower lip linear to elliptic, long and wide. Flowering occurs from July to September, and the fruit is a cream-coloured nut with rust-coloured hairs, long and wide.[1]

Taxonomy

Conospermum polycephalum was first formally described in 1848 by Carl Meissner in Lehmann's Plantae Preissianae from specimens collected near the Swan River by James Drummond.[2] [3] The specific epithet (polycephalum) means 'many-headed'.[4]

Distribution and habitat

This species of Conospermum is found from north of Perth to Wubin in the Avon Wheatbelt, Geraldton Sandplains, Jarrah Forest and Swan Coastal Plain bioregions of south-western Western Australia, where it grows in gravelly soil.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Bennett . Eleanor M. . Conospermum polycephalum . Flora of Australia. Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water: Canberra . 18 October 2024.
  2. Web site: Conospermum polycephalum . Australian Plant Name Index . 18 October 2024.
  3. Book: Meissner . Carl . Lehmann . Johann G.C. . Plantae Preissianae . 1848 . Sumptibus Meissneri . Hamburg . 249 . 18 October 2024.
  4. Book: Sharr . Francis Aubi . George . Alex . Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings . 2019 . Four Gables Press . Kardinya, WA . 9780958034180 . 281 . 3rd.