Conostylis dielsii explained

Conostylis dielsii is a tufted perennial, grass-like plant or herb in the family Haemodoraceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It forms short rhizomes, and has cylindrical leaves and creamy-yellow flowers.

Description

Conostylis dielsii is a tufted perennial, grass-like plant or herb that forms short rhizomes and typically grows to high. The leaves are round in cross-section, long and wide and glabrous, apart from woolly hairs at the base. The flowers are arranged in dense cymes or heads on a hairy flowering stalk long with leaf-like bracts long. The perianth is creamy-yellow, long with lobes long. The anthers are long and the style long. Flowering occurs in July and August.[1]

Taxonomy and naming

Conostylis dielsii was first formally described in 1903 by William Vincent Fitzgerald in the Journal of the Proceedings of the Mueller Botany Society of Western Australia from a specimen collected near Mingenew by Ludwig Diels.[2] [3] The specific epithet (dielsii) honours the collector of the type specimens.[4]

In 1987, Stephen Hopper described two subspecies of C. dielsii in the Flora of Australia, and the names are accepted by the Australian Plant Census:

Distribution and habitat

This species of conostylis grows in low open woodland in sand and gravel between Mingenew, Walkaway and the Arrowsmith River in the Avon Wheatbelt and Geraldton Sandplains bioregions of south-western Western Australia. Subspecies teres grows in heath and low open woodland and is restricted to uplands inland from Walkaway in the Geraldton Sandplains bioregion.

Conservation status

Conostylis dielsii is listed as "not threatened" but subsp. teres is listed as Threatened" by the Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, meaning that it is in danger of extinction.[9]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Hopper . S.D . Purdie . R.W . George . A.S . Patrick . S.J . Conostylis dielsii . Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment . 21 November 2023.
  2. Web site: Conostylis dielsii . APNI. 21 November 2023.
  3. Fitzgerald . William Vincent . Notes on some new species of West Australian plants. . Journal of Proceedings of the Mueller Botany Society of Western Australia . 1903 . 1 . 11 . 82 . 22 November 2023.
  4. Book: Sharr . Francis Aubi . George . Alex . Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings . 2019 . Four Gables Press . Kardinya, WA . 9780958034180 . 183 . 3rd.
  5. Web site: Conostylis dielsii subsp. dielsii . Australian Plant Census . 21 November 2021.
  6. Web site: Hopper . S.D . Purdie . R.W . George . A.S . Patrick . S.J . Conostylis dielsii subsp. dielsii . Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment . 21 November 2023.
  7. Web site: Conostylis dielsii subsp. teres . Australian Plant Census . 21 November 2021.
  8. Web site: Hopper . S.D . Purdie . R.W . George . A.S . Patrick . S.J . Conostylis dielsii subsp. teres . Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment . 21 November 2023.
  9. Web site: Conservation codes for Western Australian Flora and Fauna. Government of Western Australia Department of Parks and Wildlife. 21 November 2023.