Leucospermum Erubescens
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''Leucospermum erubescens'' is an
evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has Leaf, foliage that remains green and functional throughout the year. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which lose their foliage completely during the winter or dry season. Consisting of many diffe ...
shrub of up to 2 m (6 ft) high, with hairless, lancet-shaped to oval leaves with three to seven teeth near the tip of 7–8½ cm (2.8–3.4 in) long and 1–2 cm (0.2–0.4 in) wide, slightly asymmetric, oval flower heads of 5–6½ cm (2–2½ in) in diameter, and usually with four to eight clustered near the end of the branches, with initially yellow flowers, that change to deep crimson, from which long styles stick out, giving the flowerhead as a whole the appearance of a pincushion. It is called orange flame pincushion in English and oranjevlamspeldekussing in
Afrikaans Afrikaans is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and to a lesser extent Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and also Argentina where there is a group in Sarmiento, Chubut, Sarmiento that speaks the Pat ...
. It can be found in South Africa. Flowers may be found between August and January.


Description

The orange flame pincushion is an
evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has Leaf, foliage that remains green and functional throughout the year. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which lose their foliage completely during the winter or dry season. Consisting of many diffe ...
upright shrub of 1–1½, at most 2 m (6 ft) high, which has a single stem, and whose branches are covered with a smooth grey bark. The flowering stems are upright and ½–1 cm (0.2–0.4 in) thick and covered by a dense layer of fine cringy hairs. The leaves are hairless, pointing slightly upward, somewhat overlapping, oblong to lance-shaped, with the widest part nearer to the tip, 7–8½ cm (2.8–3.4 in) long and 1–2 cm (0.4–0.8 in) wide, the tip more or less squared off and often with three, sometimes up to seven teeth near the tip. The oval flower heads are 5–6 cm (2.0–2.4 in) in diameter and set on a 2–3 cm (1.8–2.2 in) long stalk and usually grouped with four to eight together near the end of the stems. They are somewhat asymmetrical with the styles leaning a bit towards the stem. The
common base In electronics, a common-base (also known as grounded-base) electronic amplifier, amplifier is one of three basic single-stage bipolar junction transistor (BJT) amplifier topologies, typically used as a current buffer or voltage amplifier. In t ...
of the flowers in the same head is asymmetric broadly cone-shaped or like half a sphere, about 1.3 cm (0.52 in) in diameter and clearly distinguished from the stalk. The
bracts 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 loo ...
subtending the base are broadly oval, 6–8 mm (0.24–0.32 in) long and about 6 mm wide with a suddenly pointed tip, velvety on the outside, and tidily overlapping each other. The
bracts 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 loo ...
subtending each individual flower embraces its foot, are rubbery in consistency, about 1 cm (0.4 in) long and 0.7 cm (0.28 in) wide, thickly woolly hairy at base and softly hairy higher up, with a suddenly pointed tip. The 4-merous
perianth The perianth (perigonium, perigon or perigone in monocots) is the non-reproductive part of the flower. It is a structure that forms an envelope surrounding the sexual organs, consisting of the calyx (sepals) and the corolla (petals) or tepal ...
is straight when in the bud, 3–3½ cm (1.2–1.4 in) long, uniformly silky hairy, yellow when opening but becoming crimson with age. The lowest, fully merged, part of the perianth, called tube, is 1–1.2 cm (0.4-0.48 in) long, slightly laterally compressed, hairless at base and widened and minutely powdery where it merges into the middle part (or
claws A claw is a curved, pointed appendage found at the end of a toe or finger in most amniotes (mammals, reptiles, birds). Some invertebrates such as beetles and spiders have somewhat similar fine, hooked structures at the end of the leg or tars ...
) where the perianth is split lengthwise, which is silky hairy and coils tidily when the flower opens. The upper part (or limbs), which enclosed the pollen presenter in the bud consists of four narrowly oval lobes of about long, which are softly hairy and also have long stiff hairs. From the perianth emerges a
style Style, or styles may refer to: Film and television * ''Style'' (2001 film), a Hindi film starring Sharman Joshi, Riya Sen, Sahil Khan and Shilpi Mudgal * ''Style'' (2002 film), a Tamil drama film * ''Style'' (2004 film), a Burmese film * '' ...
of 4–5½ cm (1.8–2.2 in) long, bent very slightly in the direction of the centre of the head, initially yellow but later becoming crimson in colour. The thickened part at the tip of the style called
pollen presenter A pollen-presenter is an area on the tip of the Stigma_(botany)#Style, style in flowers of plants of the family Proteaceae on which the Stamen#Morphology_and_terminology, anthers release their pollen prior to anthesis. To ensure pollination, the st ...
is cylinder-shaped with a blunt tip or slightly split in two and about 3 mm (0.12 in) long. The
ovary The ovary () is a gonad in the female reproductive system that produces ova; when released, an ovum travels through the fallopian tube/ oviduct into the uterus. There is an ovary on the left and the right side of the body. The ovaries are end ...
is subtended by four opaque awl-shaped scales of about 2 mm (0.08 in) long.


Taxonomy

The orange flame pincushion was first described by
Carl Meissner Carl Daniel Friedrich Meissner (1 November 1800 – 2 May 1874) was a Swiss botanist. Biography Born in Bern, Switzerland on 1 November 1800, he was christened Meisner but later changed the spelling of his name to Meissner. For most of his 40 ...
, who contributed a section on the Proteaceae in 1856 to the series Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis by
Alphonse Pyramus de Candolle Alphonse Louis Pierre Pyramus (or Pyrame) de Candolle (27 October 18064 April 1893) was a French-Swiss botanist, the son of the Swiss botanist Augustin Pyramus de Candolle. Biography De Candolle, son of Augustin Pyramus de Candolle, first devot ...
and called it ''L. attenuatum'' var. ''ambiguum''.
John Patrick Rourke John Patrick Rourke FMLS (born 26 March 1942 in Cape Town) is a South African botanist, who worked at the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden and became curator of the Compton Herbarium. He is a specialist in the flora of the Cape Floristic ...
named it ''L. erubescens'' in 1970. The species
epithet An epithet (, ), also a byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) commonly accompanying or occurring in place of the name of a real or fictitious person, place, or thing. It is usually literally descriptive, as in Alfred the Great, Suleima ...
''erubescens'' is derived from the
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
“erubesco”, meaning “I blush”, referring to the colour of the flowers which change from yellow to red. ''L. erubescens'' is sometimes called Oudtshoorn pincushion, but this may be confusing since it does not occur near
Oudtshoorn Oudtshoorn (, ) is a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa, located between the Swartberg mountains to the north and the Outeniqua Mountains to the south. Dubbed the "ostrich capital of the world", Oudtshoorn is known for its ostric ...
.


Distribution, habitat and ecology

The orange flame pincushion has a very limited range on the northern foothills of the
Langeberg The Langeberg Range is a mountain range in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Its highest peak is Keeromsberg at 2,072 m that lies 15 km northeast of the town of Worcester. Some of the highest peaks of the range are located just ...
, where it can be found between Muiskraal and Brandrivier, in a narrow strip of arid
fynbos Fynbos (; , ) is a small belt of natural shrubland or heathland vegetation located in the Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces of South Africa. The area is predominantly coastal and mountainous, with a Mediterranean climate. The fynbos ...
bordering the
Little Karoo The Karoo ( ; from the Afrikaans borrowing of the South Khoekhoe Khoemana (also known as !Orakobab or Korana) word is a semidesert natural region of South Africa. No exact definition of what constitutes the Karoo is available, so its extent i ...
and an isolated population at Warmbad, situated on the Warmwaterberg. The plants grow on gravel flats or the rocky hill of weathered Table Mountain Sandstone, at elevations between . In these locations, the annual precipitation is 250–375 mm (10–15 in), which mainly falls during the winter. Nectar-feeding birds, such as the
Cape sugarbird The Cape sugarbird (''Promerops cafer'') is one of the eight bird species endemic to the Fynbos biome of the Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces of South Africa. Taxonomy The Cape sugarbird was formally described in 1758 by the Swedish natu ...
and several
sunbird Sunbirds and spiderhunters make up the family Nectariniidae of passerine birds. They are small, slender passerines from the Old World, usually with downward-curved bills. Many are brightly coloured, often with iridescent feathers, particularly i ...
s pollinate the flowers. Large insects, such as monkey beetles also visit the flower, but do not necessarily brush along the pollen presenters and may be inefficient as pollinators. The fruits are ripe approximately two months after flowering and subsequently fall to the ground. These are collected by ants that carry them underground into their nests. Here, the soft, pale
elaiosome Elaiosomes ( ''élaion'' "oil" + ''sóma'' "body") are fleshy structures that are attached to the seeds of many plant species. The elaiosome is rich in lipids and proteins, and may be variously shaped. Many plants have elaiosomes that attract ...
is eaten, and the hard, smooth seed remains underground. After a
wildfire A wildfire, forest fire, or a bushfire is an unplanned and uncontrolled fire in an area of Combustibility and flammability, combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identified as a ...
has destroyed the above ground vegetation, the seeds germinate at at night and during the day, and germination is stimulated by smoke residues in the water.


Uses

''L. erubescens'' is cultivated as cut flower and grown as an ornamental in gardens.


Conservation

''L. erubescens'' is considered rare, but not threatened, because although it has a very limited distribution, its habitat is not at risk of agricultural or urban development.


References


External links


several photos
{{Taxonbar, from=Q5974017 Endemic flora of the Cape Provinces Plants described in 1970 erubescens Taxa named by Carl Meissner