''Conospermum hookeri'', commonly known as Tasmanian smokebush, is a species of flowering plant in the family

Proteaceae The Proteaceae form a family (biology), family of flowering plants predominantly distributed in the Southern Hemisphere. The family comprises 83 genus, genera with about 1,660 known species. Australia and South Africa have the greatest concentr ...

and is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

. It is a shrub with many branches, spatula-shaped or linear leaves,

panicle In botany, a panicle is a much-branched inflorescence. (softcover ). Some authors distinguish it from a compound spike inflorescence, by requiring that the flowers (and fruit) be pedicellate (having a single stem per flower). The branches of a p ...

s of spikes of white, tube-shaped flowers and reddish brown

nuts Nut often refers to: * Nut (fruit), fruit composed of a hard shell and a seed * Nut (food), a dry and edible fruit or seed, including but not limited to true nuts * Nut (hardware), fastener used with a bolt Nut, NUT or Nuts may also refer to: A ...

covered with silky fawn-coloured hairs.

Description

''Conospermum hookeri'' is an erect, slender, much-branched shrub that typically grows to a height of . Its leaves are crowded, greyish-green, spatula-shaped to linear, long, wide and point upwards. The flowers are borne in

s that end in a spike with up to 20 flowers on a peduncle long and covered with silky white hairs. There are hairy

bracteole In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves in size, color, shape or texture. They also look ...

s long and wide. The flowers are white, densely woolly-hairy and form a tube long. The upper lip of the perianth is long, wide, curved backwards and covered with white hairs. The lower lip joined for with lobes long and wide and covered with white and red hairs. Flowering usually occurs from September to November, and the fruit is a reddish-brown nut about long and wide and covered with silky fawn-coloured hairs.

Taxonomy

This species was first formally described in 1856 by Karl Meissner who gave it the name ''Conospermum taxifolium'' var. ''? hookeri'' in de Candolle's '' Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis''. In 1995,

Eleanor Marion Bennett Eleanor Marion Bennett (born 4 February 1942) (née Scrymgeour) is an Australian botanist who was employed by the Western Australian Herbarium from 1965 to 1970. She collected ''Eucalyptus'' species in the south-west of Western Australia Wes ...

raised the variety to species status as ''Conospermum hookeri'' in the ''

Flora of Australia The flora of Australia comprises a vast assemblage of plant species estimated to over 21,000 vascular and 14,000 non-vascular plants, 250,000 species of fungi and over 3,000 lichens. The flora has strong affinities with the flora of Gondwana, ...

''. The

specific epithet In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...

(''hookeri'') honours

William Jackson Hooker Sir William Jackson Hooker (6 July 178512 August 1865) was an English botany, botanist and botanical illustrator, who became the first director of Kew Gardens, Kew when in 1841 it was recommended to be placed under state ownership as a botan ...

Distribution and habitat

Tasmanian smokebush usually grows in coastal heathland and heathy forest or woodland between

Bruny Island Bruny Island is a coastal island of Tasmania, Australia, located at the mouths of the Derwent River and Huon River estuaries on Storm Bay on the Tasman Sea, south of Hobart. The island is separated from the mainland by the D'Entrecasteaux C ...

and

Cape Barren Island Cape Barren Island, officially truwana / Cape Barren Island, is a island in Bass Strait, off the north-east coast of Tasmania, Australia. It is the second-largest island of the Furneaux Group, with the larger Flinders Island to the north, and ...

with a disjunct population near Avoca in the Fingal Valley.

Conservation status

Tasmanian smokebush is listed as "vulnerable" under the Australian Government ''

Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 The ''Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999'' (Cth) is an Act of the Parliament of Australia that provides a framework for protection of the Australian environment, including its biodiversity and its natural and cult ...

''. The main threats to the species are land clearance and fragmentation, the species'small population size, and dieback caused by ''

Phytophthora cinnamomi ''Phytophthora cinnamomi'', also known as cinnamon fungus, is a soil-borne water mould that produces an infection which causes a condition in plants variously called "dieback", "root rot", or (in certain '' Castanea'' species), "ink disease". O ...

''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15575304 hookeri Endemic flora of Tasmania Taxa named by Carl Meissner Plants described in 1856