Petrophile acicularis
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| Petrophile acicularis | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Near Redmond | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Order: | Proteales |
| Family: | Proteaceae |
| Genus: | Petrophile |
| Species: | P. acicularis |
| Binomial name | |
| Petrophile acicularis | |
| Synonyms[1] | |
Petrophile acicularis is a species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a low, tufted shrub with cylindrical leaves and oval heads of densely hairy, cream-coloured flowers.
Petrophile acicularis is a tufted shrub that typically grows to a height of 15–70 cm (5.9–27.6 in) and has glabrous branchlets and leaves. The leaves are cylindrical, 50–180 mm (2.0–7.1 in) long and 1–1.5 mm (0.039–0.059 in) wide. The flowers are arranged in sessile, oval heads about 15 mm (0.59 in) long, with many pointed involucral bracts at the base. The flowers are about 10 mm (0.39 in) long, cream-coloured and densely hairy. Flowering occurs from September to October, and the fruit is a nut, fused with others in a more or less spherical head 15–20 mm (0.59–0.79 in) long. This petrophile differs from similar species in having prominently striated cone scales.[2][3][4]
Taxonomy
Petrophile acicularis was first formally described in 1810 by Robert Brown in Transactions of the Linnean Society of London.[5][6] The specific epithet (acicularis) means "needle-pointed", referring to the leaves.[7]