Needle-leaved smokebush
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Proteales
Family: Proteaceae
Genus: Conospermum
Species:
C. acerosum
Binomial name
Conospermum acerosum

Conospermum acerosum, commonly known as needle-leaved smokebush,[1] is a shrub endemic to Western Australia.

Description

It grows as a spindly shrub, either erect or sprawling, from 0.3 to 1.7 metres (10 to 70 in) high, usually with several unbranched stems growing from the base of the plant. It has slender, needle like leaves up to 10 centimetres (4 in) long, and dense panicles of white, red or pink flowers, each about 8 millimetres (0.3 in) long.[1][2][3]

Taxonomy

It was first published in John Lindley's 1839 A Sketch of the Vegetation of the Swan River Colony, based on specimens collected by James Drummond. Lindley referred to it as a "strange species" that "might be mistaken for a Colletia."[4] It has since had a thoroughly uncomplicated taxonomic history, with no nomenclatural or taxonomic synonyms published.[5] In 1995, however, as part of her treatment of Conospermum for the Flora of Australia series of monographs, Eleanor Bennett published a subspecies, C. acerosum subsp. hirsutum, based on material collected in 1901 by geologist and archaeologist William Dugald Campbell; thus the autonym C. acerosum subsp. acerosum was also invoked.[6][7] C. acerosum subsp. acerosum has fine red hairs around the flowers and glabrous stems; subspecies hirsutum has fine hairs on the younger stems and leaf bases.

Distribution and habitat

It occurs in sandy soil, often over laterite, from the Murchison River south to Cape Leeuwin; thus it occurs mainly within the Geraldton Sandplains and Swan Coastal Plain biogeographic regions, with some populations in the Avon Wheatbelt and Jarrah Forest regions. Its Flora of Australia entry, published in 1995, states that "there is also one doubtful collection from Norseman", but this is not (or is no longer) recorded within the West Australian Herbarium's FloraBase database.[1][2]

Ecology

It is not considered threatened.[1]

References

Wikisource has original text related to this article:
  1. 1 2 3 4 "Conospermum acerosum Lindl". FloraBase. Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.
  2. 1 2 "Conospermum acerosum Lindl". Flora of Australia Online. Department of the Environment and Heritage, Australian Government.
  3. ↑ Corrick, Margaret G.; Fuhrer, Bruce A. (2009). Wildflowers of southern Western Australia (3rd ed.). Kenthurst, N.S.W.: Rosenberg Publishing. p. 160. ISBN 9781877058844.
  4. ↑ Lindley, John (1839). "A Sketch of the Vegetation of the Swan River Colony". Appendix to the first twenty-three volumes of Edwards's Botanical Register. London: James Ridgeway.
  5. ↑ "Conospermum acerosum Lindl". Australian Plant Name Index (APNI), IBIS database. Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research, Australian Government.
  6. ↑ "Conospermum acerosum subsp. hirsutum E.M.Benn". Australian Plant Name Index (APNI), IBIS database. Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research, Australian Government.
  7. ↑ "Conospermum acerosum Lindl. subsp. acerosum". Australian Plant Name Index (APNI), IBIS database. Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research, Australian Government.
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