Conospermum mitchellii
Meisn. Victorian Smoke-bushErect shrub to c. 2 m high; branches silky-hairy. Leaves crowded, more or less erect, linear, 5–12 cm long, 1–4 mm wide, broadest towards apex, mucronate, green, both surfaces virtually glabrous. Inflorescence a terminal or upper-axillary corymbose panicle, mostly 8–15 cm across; common peduncles ascending, 3–10 cm long, usually longer than subtending leaves; flowers in short, dense, pedunculate spikes, each flower sessile, subtended by a blue-grey, persistent bract c. 3 mm long; perianth tubular at base, splitting c. halfway up; tepals 7–9 mm long, white or cream, densely hairy; ovary comose at apex, also ringed by basal hairs. Nut 2–3 mm long, hairy. Flowers mostly Sep.–Dec.
LoM, Wim, GleP, VVP, OtP, Gold, GGr, DunT, OtR, VAlp. Also ?SA. In Victoria confined to the west, mainly in the Grampians, Lower Glenelg National Park and Anglesea areas and sometimes locally common. Found in heathlands and heathy woodlands on sandy soils.
A rare variant (recently described as C. elongatum) from the southern Grampians with the inflorescences consisting of panicles of interrupted spikes is noteworthy. These plants probably represent a freakish development of C. mitchellii as some observers have noted both spicate and corymbose inflorescences sometimes present on the same plant.
The record of C. mitchellii for South Australia (Bentham 1870) is not supported by any specimens and, if valid, the species is presumed to have become extinct in that state long ago due to land clearing.
Jeanes, J.A. (1996). Proteaceae. In: Walsh, N.G.; Entwisle, T.J., Flora of Victoria Vol. 3, Dicotyledons Winteraceae to Myrtaceae, pp. 830–887. Inkata Press, Melbourne.
Spinning