''Adenanthos cacomorphus'' is a small shrub in the family Proteaceae. It is found in

southwest The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

Description

''Adenanthos cacomorphus'' grows as a small lignotuberous shrub up to one metre (3 ft) high. The soft and hairy leaves are more or less triangular in shape with 3 to 5 (occasionally up to 7) apical lobes. The single pink flowers consist of a bright pink perianth about 2.5 cm (1 in) long, and a style up to 3.5 cm (1.6 in) long. They are seen over the warmer months from November to March. It resembles its close relative '' A. cuneatus'', but has more deeply lobed leaves and a different flower colour.

Taxonomy

Botanical specimens of this species had been collected as far back as 1969, but the species was not published until 1978, when Irish botanist

Ernest Charles Nelson (Ernest) Charles Nelson (15 September 1951, Belfast, Northern Ireland) is a botanist who specialises in the heather family, Ericaceae, especially ''Erica'', and whose past research interests included the Proteaceae especially '' Adenanthos''. H ...

issued a thorough revision of ''Adenanthos''. He published this species based on a

type specimen In biology, a type is a particular specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes th ...

collected by Kenneth Newbey in

Fitzgerald River National Park Fitzgerald River National Park is a national park in the Shires of Ravensthorpe and the Jerramungup in Western Australia, southeast of Perth. The park is recognised on Australia's National Heritage List for its outstanding diversity of nativ ...

in 1974. Studies of the species' pollen prior to publication had shown that some pollen grains were "grossly misshapen", lacking their usual triangular shape, and having more than the usual three pores. He therefore chose the specific epithet ''cacomorpha'' from the

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...

''kakos'' ("ugly"), and ''morphe'' ("form"). Nelson followed

George Bentham George Bentham (22 September 1800 – 10 September 1884) was an English botanist, described by the weed botanist Duane Isely as "the premier systematic botanist of the nineteenth century". Born into a distinguished family, he initially studie ...

in dividing ''Adenanthos'' into two sections, placing ''A. cacomorphus'' into ''A.'' sect. ''Adenanthos'' because its perianth tube is straight and not swollen above the middle. He further divided the section into two subsections, with ''A. cacomorpha'' placed into ''A.'' subsect. ''Adenanthos'' for reasons including the length of its perianth. However Nelson discarded his own subsections in his 1995 treatment of ''Adenanthos'' for the ''

Flora of Australia The flora of Australia comprises a vast assemblage of plant species estimated to over 30,000 vascular and 14,000 non-vascular plants, 250,000 species of fungi and over 3,000 lichens. The flora has strong affinities with the flora of Gondwana, ...

'' series of monographs. By this time, the

ICBN The ''International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants'' (ICN) is the set of rules and recommendations dealing with the formal botanical names that are given to plants, fungi and a few other groups of organisms, all those "trad ...

had issued a ruling that all genera ending in ''-anthos'' must be treated as having masculine gender, so ''A. cacomorpha'' became ''A. cacomorphus''. The placement of ''A. cacomorphus'' in Nelson's arrangement of ''Adenanthos'' may be summarised as follows: :''

Adenanthos ''Adenanthos'' is a genus of Australian native shrubs in the flowering plant family Proteaceae. Variable in habit and leaf shape, it is the only genus in the family where solitary flowers are the norm. It was discovered in 1791, and formally publ ...

'' :: ''A.'' sect. ''Eurylaema'' (4 species) :: ''A.'' sect. ''Adenanthos'' :::'' A. drummondii'' :::'' A. dobagii'' :::'' A. apiculatus'' :::'' A. linearis'' :::'' A. pungens'' (2 subspecies) :::'' A. gracilipes'' :::'' A. venosus'' :::'' A. dobsonii'' :::'' A. glabrescens'' (2 subspecies) :::'' A. ellipticus'' :::'' A. cuneatus'' :::'' A. stictus'' :::'' A. ileticos'' :::'' A. forrestii'' :::'' A. eyrei'' :::''A. cacomorphus'' :::'' A. flavidiflorus'' :::'' A. argyreus'' :::'' A. macropodianus'' :::'' A. terminalis'' :::'' A. sericeus'' (2 subspecies) :::'' A. × cunninghamii'' :::'' A. oreophilus'' :::'' A. cygnorum'' (2 subspecies) :::'' A. meisneri'' :::'' A. velutinus'' :::'' A. filifolius'' :::'' A. labillardierei'' :::'' A. acanthophyllus'' ''A. cacomorphus'' has many characteristics shared with or intermediate between two species with which is co-occurs, '' A. cuneatus'' and '' A. flavidiflorus''. There are considered its closest relatives, and it is possible that ''A. cacomorphus'' originated as a hybrid between them.

Distribution and habitat

It is endemic to southern

, restricted to the

and surrounds. ''Adenanthos cacomorphus'' is found in

kwongan Kwongan is plant community found in south-western Western Australia. The name is a Bibbelmun (Noongar) Aboriginal term of wide geographical use defined by Beard (1976) as Kwongan has replaced other terms applied by European botanists such as ...

growing on sand or sandy gravel.

Conservation

It is classified as ''Priority Two - Poorly Known'' on the Western Australia Department of Environment and Conservation's

Declared Rare and Priority Flora List The Declared Rare and Priority Flora List is the system by which Western Australia's conservation flora are given a priority. Developed by the Government of Western Australia's Department of Environment and Conservation, it was used extensively wi ...

. That is, it is a taxon which is known from few populations, at least some of which are not believed to be under immediate threat.

Cultivation

It is not known in cultivation, as it is fairly rare, and offers no advantages over the similar and more common ''A. cuneata''.

References

External links

* * * {{Taxonbar, from=Q4682192 cacomorphus Eudicots of Western Australia