''Isopogon robustus'', commonly known as robust coneflower,
is a 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 a restricted area in the
southwest of
Western Australia. It is a shrub with cylindrical leaves and oval heads of pink flowers.
Description
''Isopogon robustus'' is a shrub that typically grows to about high and wide with brownish branchlets. The leaves are cylindrical, up to long and wide and more or less
sessile. The flowers are arranged in oval, sessile heads of about nineteen to twenty-five pink flowers, the heads about in diameter with egg-shaped
involucral bracts at the base. Flowering occurs in October 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 ...
about long, fused in a spherical head in diameter.
Taxonomy and naming
''Isopogon robustus'' was first formally described in 2005 by
Neil Gibson in the journal ''
Muelleria'' from a manuscript prepared by
Donald Bruce Foreman but not published before his death.
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 ...
(''robustus'') is a reference to the thick leaves and large flowers of this isopogon.
Distribution and habitat
This isopogon grows on
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 ...
but is only known from a population of about 120 plants in the Parker Range near
Southern Cross in the south-west of Western Australia.
Conservation status
''Isopogon robustus'' is listed as "critically endangered" under the Australian Government ''
Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999'' and as "
Threatened Flora (Declared Rare Flora — Extant)" by the
Department of Environment and Conservation (Western Australia).
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q18075621
robustus
Eudicots of Western Australia
Plants described in 2005