Conostylis prolifera
Conostylis prolifera, commonly known as mat cottonheads, is a rhizomatous, tufted, stoloniferous, perennial, grass-like plant or herb in the family Haemodoraceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It has flat, glabrous leaves, and yellow and cream-coloured, tubular flowers.
Description
Conostylis prolifera is a rhizomatous, tufted, perennial, grass-like plant or herb with small tufts, a few plants connected to each other by a network of stolons long. Its leaves are flat, glabrous, long, wide, sometimes with minute bristles on the edges. The flowers are borne in heads on a flowering stem long with a small, leaf-like bract long. The perianth is long and yellow, cream-coloured on the inside, with lobes long. The anthers are long and the style is long. Flowering occurs from August to October.
Taxonomy and naming
Conostylis prolifera was first formally described in 1873 by George Bentham in Flora Australiensis. The specific epithet means "proliferating".
This conostylis grows in loam and sand in winter-wet flats between the lower Murchison River, Beverley, Tammin and Wickepin in the Avon Wheatbelt, Geraldton Sandplains, Jarrah Forest, Swan Coastal Plain and Yalgoo bioregions of south-western Western Australia.
Conostylis prolifera is listed as "not threatened" by the Government of Western Australia Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.