Conospermum capitatum


Conospermum capitatum is a species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae, and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a low, erect shrub with coiled leaves and head-like panicles of red to pale yellow and hairy, tube-shaped flowers.

Description

Conospermum capitatum is a low, erect shrub that typically grows to a height of up to. Its leaves are coiled, long and wide and covered with woolly wide hairs, at least at first. The flowers are arranged in dense, head-like panicles long on a densely hairy peduncle long. The bracteoles are long and wide and reddish-brown. The perianth is red to pale yellow and covered with woolly or silky hairs, forming a glabrous tube long. The upper lip is linear, long, the lower lip joined for long with lobes about long and wide. Flowering time varies with subspecies and the fruit is a hairy, rust-coloured nut long and about wide.

Taxonomy

Conospermum capitatum was first formally described in 1811 by Robert Brown in the Transactions of the Linnean Society of London. The specific epithet means capitate.
In 1995, Eleanor Marion Bennett described two subspecies of C. capitatum, and the names and that of the autonym are accepted by the Australian Plant Census:Conospermum capitatum R.Br. subsp. capitatum has downy leaves less than wide, a distinct peduncle up to long, a woolly hairy perianth, and flowers in October and November.Conospermum capitatum subsp. glabratum E.M.Benn. has usually glabrous leaves more than wide, a peduncle up to long, a woolly hairy perianth, and flowers from October to December.Conospermum capitatum subsp. velutinum E.M.Benn. has white, velvety-hairy leaves between glabrous edge-veins, a peduncle up to long, a silky hairy perianth, and flowers in August and September.

Distribution and habitat

Conospermum capitatum is found on hill slopes and winter-wet flat areas in the Avon Wheatbelt, Jarrah Forest, Swan Coastal Plain and Warren bioregions of south-western Western Australia where it grows in sandy, loamy and clay soils often over laterite. Subspecies capitatum is found on flats and hillslopes in coastal regions of the south-west, in the Jarrah Forest and Warren bioregions, subsp. glabratum on flats, gentle slopes and winter-wet areas and is widespread between Perth and Nannup in the Avon Wheatbelt, Jarrah Forest, Swan Coastal Plain and Warren bioregions. Subspecies velutinum grows in sandy soils over laterite, and is common between Albany, Mount Barker and the Porongurup National Park.

Conservation status

All three subspecies of C. capitatum are listed as "not threatened" by the Government of Western Australia Department of Parks and Wildlife.