Conospermum caeruleum
Conospermum caeruleum, commonly known as blue brother, is a species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to the south west of Western Australia. It is a prostrate shrub with small, dense heads of blue, rarely pink flowers and usually grows in heavy soils subject to flooding.
Description
It grows as a prostrate or straggly shrub usually growing to a height of about and a spread of up to. The leaves are clustered at the base of the stem, have a stalk and a leaf blade that is thread-like to egg-shaped and. The leaves have prominent veins and end abruptly in a sharp point. The flowers are arranged in dense clusters of up to 18 tube-like blue flowers, each about long. Flowers appear between July and October and are followed by the fruit which is a nut about long and wide.Taxonomy
Conospermum caeruleum was first formally described in 1810 by Robert Brown and the description was published in Transactions of the Linnean Society of London from a specimen collected near "King George's Sound, west coast of New Holland". The specific epithet is a Latin word meaning "sky-blue".Six subspecies are recognised by the Australian Plant Census as at November 2020:
- Conospermum caeruleum R.Br. subsp. caeruleum
- Conospermum caeruleum subsp. contortum E.M.Benn.
- Conospermum caeruleum subsp. debile E.M.Benn.
- Conospermum caeruleum subsp. marginatum E.M.Benn.
- Conospermum caeruleum subsp. oblanceolatum E.M.Benn.
- Conospermum caeruleum subsp. spathulatum Benth. E.M.Benn.