Conostylis dielsii

Conostylis dielsii is a tufted perennial, grass-like plant or herb that forms short rhizomes and typically grows to 13–33 cm (5.1–13.0 in) high. The leaves are round in cross-section, 7–330 mm (0.28–12.99 in) long and 0.5–1.8 mm (0.020–0.071 in) wide and glabrous, apart from woolly hairs at the base. The flowers are arranged in dense cymes or heads on a hairy flowering stalk 40–100 mm (1.6–3.9 in) long with leaf-like bracts 6–15 mm (0.24–0.59 in) long. The perianth is creamy-yellow, 7.5–10 mm (0.30–0.39 in) long with lobes 4–6 mm (0.16–0.24 in) long. The anthers are 2.5–4 mm (0.098–0.157 in) long and the style 6.0–8.5 mm (0.24–0.33 in) long. Flowering occurs in July and August.^[2][3]

Conostylis dielsii was first formally described in 1903 by William Vincent Fitzgerald in the Journal and Proceedings of the Mueller Botanic Society of Western Australia from a specimen collected near Mingenew by Ludwig Diels.^[4][5] The specific epithet (dielsii) honours the collector of the type specimens.^[6]

In 1987, Stephen Hopper described two subspecies of C. dielsii in the Flora of Australia, and the names are accepted by the Australian Plant Census:

• Conostylis dielsii W.Fitzg. subsp. dielsii^[7] has leaves 70–155 mm (2.8–6.1 in) long and 0.8–1.8 mm (0.031–0.071 in) wide, the flowering stalk 20–100 mm (0.79–3.94 in) long.^[8]
• Conostylis dielsii subsp. teres Hopper^[9] has leaves 130–330 mm (5.1–13.0 in) long and less than 1.0 mm (0.039 in) wide, the flowering stalk 10–145 mm (0.39–5.71 in) long.^[10]