''Conospermum huegelii'', commonly known as the slender smokebush, is a species of flowering plant endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a low, clumped shrub with thread-like to narrowly cylindrical leaves, and spikes of pale blue to cream-coloured, tube-shaped flowers and hairy

nuts Nut often refers to: * Nut (fruit), fruit composed of a hard shell and a seed, or a collective noun for dry and edible fruits or seeds * Nut (hardware), fastener used with a bolt Nut or Nuts may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Com ...

Description

''Conospermum huegelii'' is a low, clumped shrub that typically grows to a height of up to , up to high when in flower, and does not form a lignotuber. Its leaves are upright, thread-like to narrowly cylindrical, long, wide and curved or spirally coiled. The flowers are spikes on the ends of branchlets on a

peduncle Peduncle may refer to: *Peduncle (botany), a stalk supporting an inflorescence, which is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed *Peduncle (anatomy), a stem, through which a mass of tissue is attached to a body **Peduncle (art ...

long with egg-shaped, glabrous blue bracteoles. The flowers are pale blue to cream-coloured and form a tube long. The upper lip of the perianth is egg-shaped, long, wide, and curved backwards, the lower lip joined for with narrowly oblong lobes long and wide. Flowering occurs from July to October, and the fruit is a nut long and wide and covered with woolly golden brown to orange hairs.

Taxonomy

''Conospermum huegelii'' was first formally described in 1838 by the botanist

Stephan Endlicher Stephan Ladislaus Endlicher also known as Endlicher István László (24 June 1804, Bratislava (Pozsony) – 28 March 1849, Vienna) was an Austrian botanist, numismatist and Sinologist. He was a director of the Botanical Garden of Vienna. Bio ...

from an unpublished description of Robert Brown. Endlicher's description was published in ''Stirpium Australasicarum Herbarii Hugeliani Decades Tres'' from specimens collected near the

Swan River Colony The Swan River Colony, also known as the Swan River Settlement, or just Swan River, was a British colony established in 1829 on the Swan River, in Western Australia. This initial settlement place on the Swan River was soon named Perth, and it ...

by Charles von Hügel. The

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

honours the botanist

Karl von Hugel Karl may refer to: People * Karl (given name), including a list of people and characters with the name * Karl der Große, commonly known in English as Charlemagne * Karl Marx, German philosopher and political writer * Karl of Austria, last Austr ...

Distribution and habitat

Slender smokebush is found in swampy areas and among granite outcrops in the

Swan Coastal Plain The Swan Coastal Plain in Western Australia is the geographic feature which contains the Swan River as it travels west to the Indian Ocean. The coastal plain continues well beyond the boundaries of the Swan River and its tributaries, as a geol ...

and in the Darling Range of Western Australia where it grows in sandy-gravelly soils in the Jarrah Forest and

bioregions of south-western Western Australia.

Use in horticulture

This attractive ornamental plant is suitable for gardens or containers. The flowers are used for decoration and are long lasting. It is reasonably difficult to establish, propagation is by cuttings and can be sown by seed.

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q15575516 Eudicots of Western Australia huegelii Endemic flora of Western Australia Plants described in 1838 Taxa named by Stephan Endlicher