Conospermum nervosum
{{short description|Species of Australian shrub}}
{{Use Australian English|date=August 2024}}
{{speciesbox
|image = Conospermum nervosum - Flickr - Kevin Thiele.jpg
|genus = Conospermum
|species = nervosum
|authority = Meisn.{{cite web |title=Conospermum nervosum |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/76481 |publisher=Australian Plant Census |access-date=5 October 2024}}
|synonyms =
- Conospermum diffusum Benth.
- Conospermum nervosum Meisn. var. nervosum
- Conospermum nervosum var. ovalifolium Meisn.
- Conospermum nervosum var. subspathulatum Meisn.
}}
File:Conospermum nervosum.jpg]]
Conospermum nervosum is a species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is an erect, much-branched shrub with oblong to egg-shaped leaves, and spikes of blue to pink, tube-shaped flowers.
Description
Conospermum nervosum is a small, erect or spreading, multi-branched shrub that typically grows to a height of {{cvt|30–60|cm}}, sometimes to {{cvt|1|m}}. It has oblong to egg-shaped leaves, sometimes with the narrow end towards the base, {{cvt|9–55|mm}} long and {{cvt|1.5–13|mm}} wide. The flowers are blue, rarely pale pink, arranged in a head of spikes of up to 20, the flowers forming a tube {{cvt|2–3|mm}} long. The upper lip is elliptic, {{cvt|3.0–3.5|mm}} long, {{cvt|1.5–2.0|mm}} wide, the lower lip joined for {{cvt|2.8–3.5|mm}} long with narrowly D-shaped lobes {{cvt|0.5–0.75|mm}} long and about {{cvt|0.5|mm}}. Flowering mostly occurs from August to February and the fruit is a hairy, cream-coloured nut about {{cvt|2|mm}} long wide.{{FloraBase | name = Conospermum nervosum | id = 1878}}{{cite web |last1=Bennett |first1=Eleanor M. |title=Conospermum nervosum |url=https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/Conospermum%20nervosum |publisher=Flora of Australia. Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water: Canberra |access-date=5 October 2024}}{{cite book|title=Wildflowers of Southern Western Australia|author1=Margaret G. Corrick|author2=Bruce Alexander Fuhrer|year=2009|publisher=Rosenburg publishing|ISBN=9781877058844|page=161}}
Taxonomy
Conospermum nervosum was first formally described in 1855 by the botanist Carl Meissner in Hooker's Journal of Botany and Kew Garden Miscellany from specimens collected by James Drummond.{{cite web |title=Conospermum nervosum |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/rest/instance/apni/490050|publisher=Australian Plant Name Index |access-date=5 October 2024}}{{cite journal |last1=Meissner |first1=Carl |editor-last1=Hooker |editor-first1=William Jackson |title=New Proteaceae of Australia |journal=Hooker's Journal of Botany and Kew Garden Miscellany |date=1855 |volume=7 |page=71 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/6325#page/73/mode/1up |access-date=5 October 2024}} The specific epithet (nervosum) means 'abounding in nerves', referring to the many veins in the leaves.{{cite book |last1=Sharr |first1=Francis Aubi |last2=George |first2=Alex |title=Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings |date=2019 |publisher=Four Gables Press |location=Kardinya, WA |isbn=9780958034180 |page=260 |edition=3rd}}
Distribution and habitat
This species of Conospermum is found on hill slopes and sand plains along the west coast to the north of Perth between Hill River and Eneabba in the Geraldton Sandplains and Swan Coastal Plain bioregions of south-western Western Australia where it grows in sandy soils in kwongan.
References
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Category:Endemic flora of Western Australia
Category:Eudicots of Western Australia