''Isopogon baxteri'', commonly known as the Stirling Range coneflower, is a species of plant in the family

Proteaceae The Proteaceae form a family of flowering plants predominantly distributed in the Southern Hemisphere. The family comprises 83 genera with about 1,660 known species. Together with the Platanaceae and Nelumbonaceae, they make up the order Pro ...

and is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to the

south-west 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 se ...

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 an erect shrub with wedge-shaped, often 3-lobed, toothed leaves and flattened spherical heads of hairy pink flowers.

Description

''Isopogon baxteri'' is an erect shrub that typically grows to a height of and has hairy reddish to brown branchlets. The leaves are wedge-shaped, often 3-lobed, long with twelve to fourteen sharply-pointed teeth. The flowers are arranged in

sessile Sessility, or sessile, may refer to: * Sessility (motility), organisms which are not able to move about * Sessility (botany), flowers or leaves that grow directly from the stem or peduncle of a plant * Sessility (medicine), tumors and polyps that ...

, flattened-spherical heads in diameter with hairy, egg-shaped involucral bracts at the base. The flowers are about long, pink and covered with greyish hairs. Flowering occurs from August to January and the fruit is a hairy

nut 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 ...

, fused with others in an elliptical to spherical head up to in diameter.

Taxonomy

''Isopogon baxteri'' was first formally described in 1830 by Robert Brown in the '' Supplementum'' to his ''

Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen ''Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen'' (Prodromus of the Flora of New Holland and Van Diemen's Land) is a flora of Australia written by botanist Robert Brown and published in 1810. Often referred to as ''Prodromus Flora Novae ...

'' from specimens collected in 1823 near the

King George's Sound King George Sound ( nys , Menang Koort) is a sound on the south coast of Western Australia. Named King George the Third's Sound in 1791, it was referred to as King George's Sound from 1805. The name "King George Sound" gradually came into use ...

, by William Baxter.

Distribution and habitat

This isopogon grows in heath or shrubland in the

Stirling Range The Stirling Range or Koikyennuruff is a range of mountains and hills in the Great Southern region of Western Australia, south-east of Perth. It is over wide from west to east, stretching from the highway between Mount Barker and Cranb ...

and near Mount Barker in the south-west of Western Australia.

Conservation status

''Isopogon baxteri'' is classified as "not threatened" by the Government of Western Australia

Department of Parks and Wildlife The Department of Parks and Wildlife (DPaW) was the department of the Government of Western Australia responsible for managing lands described in the ''Conservation and Land Management Act 1984'' and implementing the state's conservation and e ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q18075065 baxteri Eudicots of Western Australia Plants described in 1830 Endemic flora of Western Australia Taxa named by Robert Brown (botanist, born 1773)