''Isopogon polycephalus'', commonly known as clustered 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 to the South coast of Western Australia. It is a spreading shrub with linear to lance-shaped leaves with the narrower end towards the base, and clusters of more or less spherical heads of white, cream-coloured or yellow flowers.

Description

''Isopogon polycephalus'' is a spreading shrub that typically grows to a height of about and has densely hairy, reddish brown branchlets. The leaves are mostly linear to lance-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, long, and wide, ending in hard, sharp point. The flowers are arranged in sessile, more or less spherical, often clustered heads in diameter, with linear to narrow egg-shaped

involucral bracts In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, ...

at the base. The flowers are long, white, cream-coloured or yellow and glabrous. Flowering occurs from August to January and the fruit is a hairy nut, fused with others in a more or less spherical head about in diameter.

Taxonomy

''Isopogon polycephalus'' was first formally described in 1810 by Robert Brown in Transactions of the Linnean Society. 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 ...

(''polycephalus'') means "many-headed".

Distribution and habitat

Clustered coneflower grows in sandy soil in heath or sandplain between East Mount Barren and

Condingup Condingup is a town in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, in the Shire of Esperance local government area, southeast of the state capital, Perth. At the 2016 census, it and the surrounding region had a population of 278. ...

, near the south coast of Western Australia.

Conservation status

''Isopogon polycephalus'' 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 en ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q18075339 polycephalus Endemic flora of Western Australia Eudicots of Western Australia Plants described in 1810 Taxa named by Robert Brown (botanist, born 1773)