Conostephium

Conostephium is a genus of flowering plants in the family Ericaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. The name of the genus comes from Greek words, conos, "cone" and stephanos, "that which encircles, a crown or wreath", referring to the petal tube that encloses the stamens.[2][3]

Conostephium
Pearl flower Conostephium pendulum
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Ericales
Family: Ericaceae
Subfamily: Epacridoideae
Tribe: Styphelieae
Genus: Conostephium
Benth.[1]
Type species
Conostephium pendulum
Synonyms[1]

Conostephiopsis Stschegl.

Description

Plants in the genus Conostephium are small evergreen shrubs with small to medium-sized simple leaves. The flowers occur singly in the axils of the leaves, have 5 sepals, 5 corolla petals joined at their bases into a long corolla tube, and 5 stamens. The fruit is a more or less fleshy drupe.[4]

Taxonomy

The genus was first formally described in 1837 by George Bentham, and the first species described was C. pendulum. There are 12 species in the genus, 4 having been added recently. The most distinctive features of the genus are the corolla tube which is conical in the upper half, the tiny corolla lobes and very long anthers which are fully enclosed within the corolla tube. These 3 features are thought to be adaptations to buzz pollination.[5][6] The genus is most closely related to Brachyloma and Stenanthera but those genera have saccate corolla tubes, much larger corolla lobes and shorter anthers which extend partially beyond the corolla tube.[7]

After the description of C. pendulum in 1837, within ten years, two more were added - (C. minus and C. preissii). In 1859, the Russian botanist Sergei Sergeyevich Sheglejev described a new genus, Conostephiopsis in which he placed a new species (Conostephiopsis drummondii). At the same time, he transferred C. minus and C. preissii to the new genus, making Conostephium once more monotypic. In 1886, Bentham in Flora Australiensis grouped the two genera and added a fourth species (Conostephium roei). Much later, C. marchantiorum Strid (1986), C. uncinatum Moezel (1987) and C. magnum Cranfield (2002) were added. The latest additions were made (in 2013) by Michael Hislop, a botanical taxonomist at the Western Australian Herbarium[8]

Species

The following is a list of Conostephium species accepted by the Australian Plant Census as at March 2022:[9]

Distribution

All Conospermum species are endemic to the southwestern part of Western Australia.[10]

References
  1. "Conostephium". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
  2. "Conostephium pendulum". Friends of Queens Park bushland. 2011. Retrieved 18 January 2015.
  3. Sharr, Francis Aubi; George, Alex (2019). Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings (3rd ed.). Kardinya, WA: Four Gables Press. p. 70. ISBN 9780958034180.
  4. Coleman, H.R. (3 October 2008). "Florabase - The Western Australian Flora". Retrieved 10 January 2015.
  5. Johnson, Karen A.; MacQuillan, Peter B. (2011). "Comparative floral presentation and bee-pollination in two Sprengelia species (Ericaceae)". Cunninghamia. 12 (1): 45.
  6. Houston, Terry F.; Ladd, P.G. (7 February 2002). "Buzz pollination in the Epacridaceae". Australian Journal of Botany. 50 (1): 83–91. doi:10.1071/BT01020.
  7. Hislop, Michael (25 July 2013). "A taxonomic update of Conostephium (Ericaceae: Styphelioideae: Styphelieae)". Nuytsia. 23: 313–335.
  8. Cowley, K.J.; West, J.G. (July 2013). "Resources of Australian Herbaria". Council of Heads of Australasian Herbaria (CHAH). Retrieved 18 January 2015.
  9. "Conostephium". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
  10. Paczkowska, Grazyna; Chapman, Alex R. (2000). The Western Australian flora : a descriptive catalogue. Perth: Wildflower Society of Western Australia. pp. 235, 236. ISBN 0646401009.
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