Conothamnus aureus
{{Short description|Species of flowering plant}}
{{Speciesbox
|image = Conothamnus aureus (leaves flowers and fruit).jpg
|image_caption =
|genus = Conothamnus
|species = aureus
|authority = (Turcz.) Domin{{cite web |title=Conothamnus aureus |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/77883|website=Australian Plant Census |access-date=20 May 2023}}
}}
Conothamnus aureus is a member of the family Myrtaceae and is endemic to Western Australia. It is a spindly, straggly shrub with rigid, blunt leaves and spherical heads of golden yellow flowers resembling those of wattles.
Description
Conothamnus aureus is a spindly, straggly shrub with many branchlets, which grows to {{convert|30-50|cm|in|sigfig=1|abbr=on}} high and {{convert|50-100|cm|in|sigfig=1|abbr=on}} wide. The leaves are lance-shaped to egg-shaped, about {{convert|10|mm|in|sigfig=1|abbr=on}} long, {{convert|5|mm|in|sigfig=1|abbr=on}} wide and hairy with a single vein. The flowers are golden yellow and arranged on the ends of branchlets in spherical heads about {{convert|10|mm|in|sigfig=1|abbr=on}} in diameter. Its flowers differ from those in the other two species of Conothamnus in that its flowers lack petals. Flowering occurs between August and November.{{cite web |title=Conothamnus, the genus - a brief description |url=http://anpsa.org.au/melaleucaSG/melaleuca1.pdf |publisher=Melaleuca and Allied Genera Study Group newsletter |accessdate=5 September 2018}}{{FloraBase|name=Conothamnus aureus|id=5500}}{{cite journal|last1=Craven|first1=Lyndley A.|title=Note on Conothamnus Lindl. with the description of a new section, sect. Gongylocephalus Craven (Myrtaceae)|journal=Muelleria|date=2002|volume=16|pages=39–42|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/244289#page/41/mode/1up|accessdate=20 November 2017}}File:Conothamnus aureus (habit).jpg]]
Taxonomy and naming
This species was first formally described in 1852 by Nikolai Turczaninow who gave it the name Trichobasis aurea and published the description in Bulletin de la Classe Physico-Mathématique de l'Académie Impériale des Sciences de Saint-Pétersbourg.{{cite web|title=Trichobasis aureus|url=https://id.biodiversity.org.au/instance/apni/515982|publisher=APNI|accessdate=20 November 2017}}{{cite journal|last1=Turczaninow|first1=Nikolai|title=Myrtaceae Xerocarpicae in Nova Hollandia a cl. Drummond lectae et plerumque in collectione ejus quinta distributae, determinatae et descriptae|journal=Bulletin de la Classe Physico-Mathématique de l'Académie Impériale des Sciences de Saint-Pétersbourg|date=1852|volume=10|page=337|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/173046#page/419/mode/1up|accessdate=20 November 2017}} In 1923, Karel Domin changed the name to Conothamnus aureus.{{cite web|title=Conothamnus aureus|url=https://id.biodiversity.org.au/instance/apni/492248|publisher=APNI|accessdate=20 November 2017}} The specific epithet (aureus) is a Latin word meaning "golden".{{cite book|last1=Brown|first1=Roland Wilbur|title=The Composition of Scientific Words|date=1956|publisher=Smithsonian Institution Press|location=Washington, D.C.|page=112}}
Distribution and habitat
Conothamnus aureus is found on sand plains, flats and sand dunes in an area along the south coast from the Stirling Range east to Israelite Bay, extending from the Great Southern and into the south western Goldfields-Esperance regions of Western Australia where it grows in sandy or loamy soils.
References
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Category:Plants described in 1923