Conostylis caricina

Conostylis caricina is a flowering plant in the family Haemodoraceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a rhizomatous, tufted perennial, grass-like plant or herb with flat leaves and heads of 6 to 8 creamy-yellow flowers.

Description

Conostylis caricina is a rhizomatous, tufted, grass-like plant or herb that typically grows to high and has short stems. The leaves are flat, long with fibrous margins. The flower stem is long, each flower on a pedicel long. The flowers are long with a head of 6 to 8 flowers with a single, brown, membrane-like bract long. The perianth is creamy yellow, long with wooly hairs on the outside, with claw-like lobes long. The anthers are long and the style long. Flowering occurs from July to September.

Taxonomy and naming

Conostylis caricina was first formally described in 1840 by John Lindley and the description was published in A Sketch of the Vegetation of the Swan River Colony. The specific epithet means "rush-like".
In 1987, Stephen Hopper described two subspecies of C. caricina in Flora of Australia, and the names are accepted by the Australian Plant Census:Conostylis caricina Lindl. subsp. caricina has leaves long, the perianth long.Conostylis caricina subsp. elachys Hopper has leaves long, the perianth long.

Distribution and habitat

This conostylis occurs in the area between Gunyidi, Marradong and Dowerin in the Darling Range in the Avon Wheatbelt, Jarrah Forest and Swan Coastal Plain bioregions of south-western Western Australia. Subspecies elachys is found further east between Gunyidi, Calingiri and Goomalling in the Avon Wheatbelt and Jarrah Forest bioregions.

Conservation status

Conostylis caricina is listed as "not threatened" by the Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, but subspecies elachys is classified as "Priority One", meaning that it is known from only one or a few locations that are potentially at risk.