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''Anigozanthos bicolor'', commonly known as cat's paw, little kangaroo paw or two coloured kangaroo paw, is a grass-like
perennial In horticulture, the term perennial ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. It has thus been defined as a plant that lives more than 2 years. The term is also ...
herb native to the south western coastal parts of
Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...
.


Description

The
rhizomatous In botany and dendrology, a rhizome ( ) is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and shoots from its nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from axillary buds and grow hori ...
plant typically grows to a height of and blooms in spring between August and October producing green to yellow and red coloured flowers.


Taxonomy

The species was first formally described by the botanist
Stephan Endlicher Stephan Friedrich Ladislaus Endlicher, also known as Endlicher István László (24 June 1804 – 28 March 1849), was an Austrian Empire, Austrian botanist, numismatist and Sinologist. He was a director of the Botanical Garden of Vienna. Biog ...
in 1846 as a part of Johann Georg Christian Lehmann's work ''Haemodoraceae'' as published in ''
Plantae Preissianae ''Plantae preissianae sive enumeratio plantarum quas in australasia occidentali et meridionali-occidentali annis 1838-1841 collegit Ludovicus Preiss'', more commonly known as ''Plantae preissianae'', is a book written by Johann Georg Christian Le ...
''. The only synonyms are ''Agonizanthos bicolor'' and ''Anigosanthus bicolor''. There are four
subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...
; * ''Anigozanthos bicolor'' Endl. subsp. ''bicolor'' * ''Anigozanthos bicolor'' subsp. ''decrescens'' as described by
Stephen Hopper Stephen Donald Hopper (born 18 June 1951) is a Western Australian botanist. He graduated in Biology, specialising in conservation biology and vascular plants. Hopper has written eight books, and has over 200 publications to his name. He was Direc ...
in 1987. * ''Anigozanthos bicolor'' subsp. ''exstans'' as described by Stephen Hopper in 1987. * ''Anigozanthos bicolor'' subsp. ''minor'' as described by Stephen Hopper in 1987.


Distribution

It is found along the west coast from around Northam and Moora in the north down to around Albany in the south and has a discontinuous distribution to the east along the south coast as far as
Cape Arid Cape Arid National Park is a List of national parks of Australia, national park located in Western Australia, southeast of Perth. The park is situated east of Esperance, Western Australia, Esperance and lies on the shore of the South coast of ...
where it is commonly situated in damp or areas that are wet in winter or around
granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...
outcrops or along road verges growing in clay, loam or sandy soils over granite or
laterite Laterite is a soil type rich in iron and aluminium and is commonly considered to have formed in hot and wet tropical areas. Nearly all laterites are of rusty-red coloration, because of high iron oxide content. They develop by intensive and prolo ...
as a part of open forest or low heathland communities.


References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15317290 bicolor Plants described in 1846 Angiosperms of Western Australia Taxa named by Stephan Endlicher Endemic flora of Southwest Australia