''Adenanthos oreophilus'', commonly known as woollybush, is a species of tall shrub endemic to

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 ...

. It is closely related to the better known '' A. sericeus'' (Albany woollybush), and was only classified as a species distinct from the latter in 1978 by Irish botanist

E. 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 ...

Description

''Adenanthos oreophilus'' grows as an erect shrub up to 2 m (7 ft) in height, with erect branches. It lacks a

lignotuber A lignotuber is a woody swelling of the root crown possessed by some plants as a protection against destruction of the plant stem, such as by fire. Other woody plants may develop basal burls as a similar survival strategy, often as a response t ...

. Like many ''Adenanthos'' species, its leaves are deeply divided into long, soft, slender laciniae, in this case trisegmented into three or five laciniae. The flowers are scarlet. The

perianth The perianth (perigonium, perigon or perigone in monocots) is the non-reproductive part of the flower, and structure that forms an envelope surrounding the sexual organs, consisting of the calyx (sepals) and the corolla (petals) or tepals when ...

tube is from 27 to 35 mm long, and the style around 40 mm. This species is very similar in appearance to its close relative '' A. sericeus'', having, in particular, almost identical flowers. However the leaves of A. sericea are divided into many more laciniae, which are thinner than those of ''A. oreophilus''.

Taxonomy

Botanical collections attributable to this species date back at least to the middle of the 19th century, but the taxon was long regarded merely as a form of ''A. sericeus''. It was not until 1978 that Irish botanist

published it as a distinct species. He based his concept of the species on a specimen collected by him in 1973 from East Mount Barren in the

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 native ...

. He gave it the specific epithet ''oreophila'' 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 peri ...

terms ''oreos'' ("mountain") and ''philos'' ("beloved"), in reference to the species occurrence only on mountain ranges. The proper word for "mountain" in Ancient Greek is however ''oros'' (ὄρος).Liddell, H.G. & Scott, R. (1940). ''A Greek-English Lexicon. Revised and augmented throughout by Sir Henry Stuart Jones with the assistance of Roderick McKenzie.''Oxford: Clarendon Press. 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 studi ...

in dividing ''Adenanthos'' into two sections, placing ''A. oreophila'' into ''A.'' sect. ''Adenanthos'' because its perianth tube is fairly straight, and not swollen above the middle. He further divided the section into two subsections, with ''A. oreophila'' 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. oreophila'' became ''A. oreophilus''. The placement of ''A. oreophilus'' 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'' Nelson states that there are subtle morphological differences between taxa in different populations, which may merit recognition as distinct subspecies, but to date no such subspecies have been published.

Distribution and habitat

''Adenanthos oreophilus'' has an unusually disjunct distribution for an ''Adenanthos'' species. The main populations are found on

East Mount Barren East Mount Barren is a quartzite peak of the Barren Range in Fitzgerald River National Park. It was sighted and named by explorer Matthew Flinders on 6 January 1802, together with two other peaks in the range, West Mount Barren and Middle Mount B ...

, and south to the

Fitzgerald River The Fitzgerald River is a river in the Great Southern region of Western Australia. Surveyor General John Septimus Roe named the river during expeditions in the area in 1848 after the governor of Western Australia of the day, Charles Fitzge ...

, but there are also outlying populations at Mount Desmond, as well as Mount Ragged and a hill referred to by Nelson as 'Hill 62', the last two of which are located about 500 km (310 mi) east of the Barren Ranges. It grows on rocky hillslopes in

laterite Laterite is both a soil and a rock type rich in iron and aluminium and is commonly considered to have formed in hot and wet tropical areas. Nearly all laterites are of rusty-red coloration, because of high iron oxide content. They develop by ...

or siliceous sand, among tall scrub.

Cultivation

Nelson reports cultivating this species at the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies and ...

as part of morphological studies, but beyond that it is little known in cultivation. It may has potential as a "foliage contrast" for gardens in areas with reliable winter rainfall.

References

External links

* * * {{Taxonbar, from=Q4682204 oreophilus Eudicots of Western Australia