Conospermum ellipticum
Conospermum ellipticum is a species of flowering plant in family Proteaceae and is endemic to New South Wales. It is an erect shrub with hairy, elliptic leaves, panicles of cream-coloured to white flowers and golden, hairy nuts.
Description
Conospermum ellipticum is an erect shrub that typically grows to a height of and has wand-like branches, sometimes covered with woolly hairs. The leaves are erect to spreading, elliptic to egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, long and wide with a tapering tip. The flowers are arranged in panicles on a white, hairy peduncle long with bracteoles long and wide. The perianth is densely covered with soft, white hairs and joined at the base to form a tube long. The upper lobe is egg-shaped, sac-like, densely covered with soft, white hairs, long and long. The lower lip is joined for with lobes long and wide. Flowering occurs in spring, and the fruit is a nut long and covered with golden hairs.
Taxonomy
Conospermum ellipticum was first formally described in 1808 by James Edward Smith in The Cyclopaedia from specimens collected by John White. The specific epithet means 'elliptic'.
Distribution and habitat
This species of Conospermum grows in wet heath on shallow sandy soil on sandstone, mainly in coastal areas between Broken Bay and Jervis Bay.