Petrophile multisecta

Petrophile multisecta, commonly known as Kangaroo Island conesticks,[2] is a species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to Kangaroo Island in South Australia. It is a prickly shrub with rigid, much-divided leaves with sharply pointed tips, oval to spherical heads of hairy cream-coloured flowers and oval fruit.

Kangaroo Island conesticks
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Proteales
Family: Proteaceae
Genus: Petrophile
Species:
P. multisecta
Binomial name
Petrophile multisecta
Synonyms[1]

Petrophila multisecta F.Muell. orth. var.

Description

Petrophile multisecta is a shrub that typically grows to a height of about 0.6 m (2 ft 0 in) and has hairy grey branchlets. The leaves are 40–80 mm (1.6–3.1 in) long and much divided, the first divisions with three branches and the later branches with two. The flowers are arranged in sessile heads 20–25 mm (0.79–0.98 in) long at the base of branchlets, each flower 8–15 mm (0.31–0.59 in) long, cream-coloured and hairy. Flowering mainly occurs from October to February and the fruit is a nut, fused with others in an oval head 15–40 mm (0.59–1.57 in) long.[2][3][4]

Taxonomy

Petrophile multisecta was first formally described in 1868 by Ferdinand von Mueller in Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae.[5][6] The specific epithet (multisecta) means "much-divided, referring to the leaves.[2]

Distribution and habitat

Kangaroo Island conesticks grows in lateritic or calcareous sand and is common on Kangaroo Island where it is endemic.[2][3]

References
  1. "Petrophile multisecta". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 5 December 2020.
  2. "Petrophile multisecta (Proteaceae)". South Australian Seed Conservation Service. Retrieved 5 December 2020.
  3. Foreman, David B. "Petrophile multisecta". Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment: Canberra. Retrieved 5 December 2020.
  4. "Petrophile multisecta". State Herbarium of South Australia. Retrieved 5 December 2020.
  5. "Petrophile multisecta". APNI. Retrieved 5 December 2020.
  6. von Mueller, Ferdinand (1868). Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae. Melbourne: Victorian Government Printer. p. 242. Retrieved 5 December 2020.
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