Petrophile sessilis

Petrophile sessilis, known as conesticks,[2] is a species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to New South Wales. It is an erect shrub with rigid, needle-shaped, divided, sharply-pointed leaves, and oval, spike-like heads of silky-hairy, creamy-yellow flowers.

Conesticks
Petrophile sessilis near Bylong
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Proteales
Family: Proteaceae
Genus: Petrophile
Species:
P. sessilis
Binomial name
Petrophile sessilis
Synonyms[1]
  • Petrophila pulchella var. sessilis Domin orth. var.
  • Petrophile pulchella var. sessilis (Sieber ex Schult.) Domin
Habit in Dharawal National Park

Description

Petrophile sessilis is an erect shrub that typically grows to a height of 3 m (9.8 ft) and has branchlets and leaves that are silky-hairy when young but become glabrous with age. The leaves are 30–100 mm (1.2–3.9 in) long and divided with rigid, sharply-pointed, needle-shaped pinnae usually less than 10 mm (0.39 in) long. The flowers are arranged on the ends of branchlets and in leaf axils in spike-like, oval heads 20–25 mm (0.79–0.98 in) long, with broadly egg-shaped involucral bracts at the base. The flowers are 10–14 mm (0.39–0.55 in) long, silky-hairy and creamy-yellow. Flowering mainly occurs from May to February and the fruit is a nut, fused with others in a oval head up to 35 mm (1.4 in) long.[2][3] It can be distinguished from the related Petrophile pulchella by its finely hairy new growth.[4]

Taxonomy

Petrophile sessilis was first formally described in 1827 by Josef August Schultes in the 16th edition of Systema Vegetabilium from an unpublished description by Franz Sieber.[5][6]

Distribution and habitat

Petrophile sessilis grows on sandstone soils in heath, woodland and forest from the Central Coast to the Central and Southern Tablelands of New South Wales.[2][3]

References
  1. "Petrophile sessilis". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 6 January 2021.
  2. Harden, Gwen J. "New South Wales Flora Online: Petrophile sessilis". Royal Botanic Gardens & Domain Trust, Sydney, Australia.
  3. Foreman, David B. "Petrophile sessilis". Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment: Canberra. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
  4. Harden, Gwen J. "New South Wales Flora Online: Genus Petrophile". Sydney, Australia: Royal Botanic Gardens & Domain Trust. Retrieved 30 November 2011.
  5. "Petrophile sessilis". APNI. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
  6. Schultes, Josef August; Schultes, Julius Hermann (1827). Mantissa in volumen primum [-tertium] :Systematis vegetabilium caroli a Linné : ex editione Joan. Jac. Roemer et Jos. Aug. Schultes. Stuttgart. p. 262. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
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