Petrophile pulchella
| Cone-sticks | |
|---|---|
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| Blackheath, Australia | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Eudicots |
| Order: | Proteales |
| Family: | Proteaceae |
| Genus: | Petrophile |
| Species: | P. pulchella |
| Binomial name | |
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Petrophile pulchella (Schrad. & J.C.Wendl.) R.Br. |
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| Synonyms | |
Petrophile fucifolia (Salisb.) Knight
Petrophile pulchella, known as conesticks, is a common shrub of the family proteaceae found in eastern Australia. It is found growing on shallow sandstone soils, often in open forest or heathlands near the coast. It is also occasionally seen on the adjacent ranges.
The original specimen was collected at Botany Bay, and the shrub first described by Heinrich Schrader and Johann Christoph Wendland in 1796 as Protea pulchella. The prolific botanist Robert Brown reclassified it in the new genus Petrophile. The specific epithet pulchella meaning “beautiful” is derived from Latin, although noted plant author John Wrigley feels it to be somewhat of a misnomer. Joseph Knight, who had propagated and cultivated it successfully in England by 1809, reported, "It has few claims to a place in our collections."
Petrophile pulchella grows as a shrub, which can reach 3 metres (9.8 ft) high in sheltered locations and around 50 centimetres (20 in) in exposed heathland. The fine divided leaves average 4 to 10 centimetres (1.6 to 3.9 in) in length and are needle-shaped but soft rather than sharp-tipped. The new growth is glabrous (smooth). The cream-yellow inflorescences are roughly egg-shaped and appear in spring and summer. They are either sessile or on short stalks up to 1 centimetre (0.39 in) long. This distinguishes the species from P. pedunculata, which has its flowerheads on longer stalks 1 to 3 centimetres (0.39 to 1.18 in) long. The two other species in eastern Australia, P. canescens and P. sessilis, both have finely hairy new growth.
Petrophile pulchella is found on nutrient poor sandstone soils in open sclerophyll forest with trees such as Sydney peppermint (Eucalyptus piperita), smooth-barked apple (Angophora costata) or more open woodland e.g. with scribbly gum (Eucalyptus sclerophylla), silvertop ash (E. sieberi) or heathland with shrubs such as mountain devil (Lambertia formosa), broad-leaved drumsticks (Isopogon anemonifolius) and paperbark tea-tree (Leptospermum trinervium).
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Wikipedia