''Isopogon buxifolius'' 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 upright shrub with egg-shaped to elliptic or oblong leaves and clustered spikes of pink flowers.

Description

''Isopogon buxifolius'' is an upright shrub that typically grows to a height of and has mostly hairy reddish to brownish branchlets. The leaves are egg-shaped, elliptic, oblong, or egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base and long with a small point on the tip. The flowers are arranged in more or less

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 ...

spikes up to long and surrounded by leaves. The few involucral bracts are lance-shaped, the flowers long, pink and more or less

glabrous Glabrousness (from the Latin ''glaber'' meaning "bald", "hairless", "shaved", "smooth") is the technical term for a lack of hair, down, setae, trichomes or other such covering. A glabrous surface may be a natural characteristic of all or part of ...

. Flowering occurs from June to December and the fruit is a oval, 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 a cup-shaped head about long.

Taxonomy

''Isopogon buxifolius'' was first formally described in 1810 by Robert Brown in the ''

Transactions of the Linnean Society of London The Linnean Society of London is a learned society dedicated to the study and dissemination of information concerning natural history, evolution, and taxonomy. It possesses several important biological specimen, manuscript and literature colle ...

''. In 1870,

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 ...

described four varieties of ''I. buxifolius'' in ''

Flora Australiensis ''Flora Australiensis: a description of the plants of the Australian Territory'', more commonly referred to as ''Flora Australiensis'', and also known by its standard abbreviation ''Fl. Austral.'', is a seven-volume flora of Australia published be ...

'' and two of his names are accepted by the

Australian Plant Census The Australian Plant Census (APC) provides an online interface to currently accepted, published, scientific names of the vascular flora of Australia, as one of the output interfaces of the national government Integrated Biodiversity Information Syst ...

: * ''Isopogon buxifolius'' R.Br. var. ''buxifolius'' that has mostly egg-shaped long, flowering mostly from July to December. * ''Isopogon buxifolius'' var. ''obovatus'' (R.Br.) Benth. (originally described in 1830 by Robert Brown as ''Isopogon spathulatus'' var. ''obovatus'') that has oblong or egg-shaped leaves with the narrower end towards the base, long and wide, flowering mostly from June to October. Bentham's ''I. buxifolius'' var. ''linearis'' and var. ''spathulatus'' are now regarded as a

synonyms A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...

of '' I. spathulatus''.

Distribution and habitat

Variety ''buxifolius'' grows in swampy areas between

Collie Collies form a distinctive type of herding dogs, including many related landraces and standardized breeds. The type originated in Scotland and Northern England. Collies are medium-sized, fairly lightly-built dogs, with pointed snouts. Many ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

and Albany and var. ''obovatus'' has been recorded in sandy loam over

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 ...

in a small area between 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 ...

Cape Riche Cape Riche is a cape and rural locality in the Great Southern region of Western Australia. By road, it is 525 km south-east of Perth and 123 km north-east of Albany Facilities in the locality include a boat launching ramp and a ca ...

and

Bremer Bay Bremer may refer to: People *Bremer (surname) *Bremer Ehrler (born 1914), American politician * Bremer (born 1997), Brazilian footballer Places ;Australia *Bremer Bay, Western Australia *Bremer Marine Park *Bremer Island * Bremer River (disambigua ...

Conservation status

Variety ''buxifolius'' is classified as " Priority Two" 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 ...

, meaning that it is poorly known and from only one or a few locations and var. ''obovatus'' as " Priority Three", meaning that it is poorly known and known from only a few locations but is not under imminent threat.

References

{{Taxonbar, from1=Q18075171, from2=Q51045155, from3=Q51045167 buxifolius Endemic flora of Western Australia Eudicots of Western Australia Plants described in 1810 Taxa named by Robert Brown (botanist, born 1773)