Conospermum densiflorum
Conospermum densiflorum, commonly known as crown smokebush, is a species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is an erect, much-branched shrub with thread-like leaves at the base of the plant, and spikes or corymbs of velvety, cream-coloured or blue, tube-shaped flowers.
Description
Conospermum densiflorum is an erect, much-branched shrub that typically grows to a height of up to. It has thread-like leaves long and wide at the base of the plant. The flowers are arranged in spikes or corymbs on a peduncle long. The bracteoles are lance-shaped, long and wide, sometimes with scattered, golden hairs. The perianth is cream-coloured or blue, forming a tube long. The upper lip is egg-shaped, long and wide, the lower lip joined for long with narrowly oblong lobes long. Flowering depends on subspecies, and the fruit is a nut long and wide and orange, with velvety hairs.Taxonomy
Conospermum densiflorum was first formally described in 1839 by John Lindley in his A Sketch of the Vegetation of the Swan River Colony. The specific epithet means 'dense-flowered'.In 1995, Eleanor Marion Bennett described subsp. unicephalatum in the Flora of Australia, and the name, and that of the autonym are accepted by the Australian Plant Census:Conospermum densiflorum Lindl. subsp. densiflorum has flowers arranged in a corymb of spikes and flowers from September to December or January.Conospermum densiflorum subsp. unicephalatum E.M.Benn. has flowers arranged in a spike at the ends of branches and flowers from September to November.