''Leucadendron microcephalum'', common name oilbract conebrush, is a

dioecious Dioecy (; ; adj. dioecious , ) is a characteristic of a species, meaning that it has distinct individual organisms (unisexual) that produce male or female gametes, either directly (in animals) or indirectly (in seed plants). Dioecious reproductio ...

, single-stemmed,

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

shrub A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...

belonging to 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 ...

, endemic to the

Western Cape The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 2020 ...

and growing from sea level to . It is one of some 200 species in the genus, all confined to South Africa.

Description

The species is commonly known as the oilbract conebush' because of the brown, sticky, oily bracts found on both sexes when in bud, a feature setting it apart from other ''

Leucadendron ''Leucadendron'' is a genus of about 80 species of flowering plants in the family Proteaceae, endemic to South Africa, where they are a prominent part of the fynbos ecoregion and vegetation type. Description Species in the genus ''Leucadendron' ...

'' species. After flowering the bracts close, becoming hard and dry, forming a durable cone and protecting the enclosed flowerhead and heart-shaped fruits. This species produces hairless leaves some long, and bears beetle-pollinated yellow flowers in July and August - the male (about 18 mm diameter) and female (about 11 mm diameter) being on separate plants. Male shrubs are rounded and up to tall, while females are narrow-crowned and up to tall. The involucral leaves are yellow. The plants are killed by intense seasonal fires, but seeds retained in flower heads or woody capitula may survive for a number of years to produce the next generation.

Taxonomy

''Leucadendron microcephalum'' was first described by Michel Gandoger and Hans Schinz in 1913. Phillips mistakenly published it as a new species, ''L. stokoei'', in 1921.

Distribution and habitat

This is a highly gregarious species and is found in dense stands of hundreds of thousands of individuals, usually on mountainsides on stony sandstone soils, and particularly numerous in the vicinity of

Villiersdorp Villiersdorp is a town of approximately 10,000 people located in the Western Cape province of South Africa in the Overberg region. Unlike most of the geographical region which specialises in wheat and canola farming, the Villiersdorp Valley is no ...

. Its distribution covers

Kogelberg The Kogelberg is a range of mountains along the False Bay coast in the Western Cape of South Africa. They form part of the Cape Fold Belt, starting south of the Elgin valley and forming a steep coastal range as far as Kleinmond. The Kogelberg a ...

Kleinmond Kleinmond is a small coastal town in the Overberg region of the Western Cape province, South Africa. It is situated inside a UNESCO-declared biosphere about 90 km east of Cape Town between Betty's Bay and Hermanus. The town's name, meaning "s ...

Klein River Klein River is a river in the Western Cape province of South Africa. The river mouth is located at Hermanus. Its tributaries include the Karringmelk River. It falls within the Drainage system G. See also

* List of rivers of South Africa ...

, the

Groenland Mountains The Groenland (Dutch for "Greenland") is a small mountain range in the Western Cape, South Africa, and forms part of the Cape Fold Belt. Location and geography The Groenland mountains run from east to west. They lie between the Hottentots Hollan ...

north of

Grabouw Grabouw is a town located in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Grabouw is located some 65 km south-east of Cape Town, over Sir Lowry's Pass from Somerset West, along the N2 highway.The town is the commercial centre for the vast Elgin ...

Hottentots-Holland The Hottentots Holland Mountains are part of the Cape Fold Belt in the Western Cape, South Africa. The mountain range forms a barrier between the Cape Town metropolitan area and the southern Overberg coast. The range is primarily composed of Ta ...

, Du Toit's Kloof Mountains,

Riviersonderend Mountains The Riviersonderend Mountains are a mountain range in the Cape Fold Belt of the Western Cape province of South Africa. They run east to west from Riviersonderend to Villiersdorp, separating the Breede River Valley from the Overberg region. They ...

, and the

Swartberg The Swartberg mountains (''black mountain'' in Afrikaans) are a mountain range in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is composed of two main mountain chains running roughly east–west along the northern edge of the semi-arid Little Kar ...

above Caledon.

References

External links

Tim Honey

Bibliography

*"The Proteaceae of Southern Africa" - J. P. Rourke (Purnell, 1980) *"South Africa's Proteaceae" - Marie Vogts (Struik, 1982) *"A Field Guide to the Proteas of Southern Africa" - Rebelo, Paterson-Jones (Fernwood, 1995) {{Taxonbar, from=Q15583118 microcephalum Endemic flora of the Cape Provinces Fynbos