Adenanthos × cunninghamii, commonly known as Woollybush

Woollybush

Woollybush, woolly bush or woolly-bush is a common name for plants of the genus Adenanthos with leaves deeply divided into long, soft, slender laciniae, often covered in a fine down of soft hairs...

, Albany Woollybush or Prostrate Woollybush, is a hybrid shrub in the family Proteaceae

Proteaceae

Proteaceae is a family of flowering plants distributed in the Southern Hemisphere. The family comprises about 80 genera with about 1600 species. Together with the Platanaceae and Nelumbonaceae they make up the order Proteales. Well known genera include Protea, Banksia, Embothrium, Grevillea,...

. It is endemic to the south-west

Southwest Australia

Southwest Australia is a biodiversity hotspot that includes the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub ecoregions of Western Australia. The region has a wet-winter, dry-summer Mediterranean climate, one of five such regions in the world...

 of Western Australia

Western Australia

Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...

.

Description

It has an erect and spreading habit, growing to 1.5 m (5 ft) in height. Young branches are covered by short white hairs, but these are lost with age. The leaves are about 25 mm (1 in) long, and deeply divided into three narrow segments, each of which is typically further divided into two laciniae. Thus most leaves have 6 laciniae, though sometimes there are 8, and very rarely fewer than six. Each lacinia is about 3 mm wide, somewhat concave, with an linear margin.

The single red flowers appear in September and October and again in March. It has a similar appearance to Adenanthos sericeus

Adenanthos sericeus

Adenanthos sericeus, commonly known as Woolly Bush, is a shrub native to the south coast of Western Australia. It has bright red but small and obscure flowers, and very soft, deeply divided, hairy leaves.-Description:...

, but has leaf segments that are flattened rather than cylindrical like those of A. sericeus.

Taxonomy

The hybrid was originally formally described as a species Adenanthos cunninghamii by Swiss botanist Carl Meissner

Carl Meissner

Carl Daniel Friedrich Meissner was a Swiss botanist.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 year career he was Professor of Botany at University of Basel...

, his description published in 1845 in the first volume of Plantae Preissianae. The specific epithet honours Alan Cunningham. A genetic analysis of Adenanthos cunninghamii was undertaken in 2003. This analysis confirmed that it is a hybrid between Adenanthos sericeus

Adenanthos sericeus

Adenanthos sericeus, commonly known as Woolly Bush, is a shrub native to the south coast of Western Australia. It has bright red but small and obscure flowers, and very soft, deeply divided, hairy leaves.-Description:...

and Adenanthos cuneatus

Adenanthos cuneatus

Adenanthos cuneatus is a shrub of the Proteaceae family, native to the south coast of Western Australia. It was originally described by French naturalist Jacques Labillardière in 1805. Within the genus Adenanthos, it lies in the section Adenanthos and is most closely related to A. stictus. A....

.

Distribution

The hybrid occurs in the vicinity of Torndirrup National Park

Torndirrup National Park

Torndirrup National Park is a national park in the Great Southern region of Western Australia , southeast of Perth and south of Albany. Torndirrup National Park has many impressive rock formations on the coast. These include the Gap, Natural Bridge and the Blowholes all shaped from the local...

 including Shire Reserve to the south west of Albany

Albany, Western Australia

Albany is a port city in the Great Southern region of Western Australia, some 418 km SE of Perth, the state capital. As of 2009, Albany's population was estimated at 33,600, making it the 6th-largest city in the state....

 as well as Two Peoples Bay Nature Reserve

Two Peoples Bay Nature Reserve

Two Peoples Bay is a protected area east of Albany. The area is accessible by 2WD vehicles. The bay itself, including two small secluded beaches, faces due east and is protected from the Southern Ocean by a headland formed by the granite massif of Mount Gardiner...

 and Gull Rock, east of Albany. It is found in low woodland, shrub and heathland on deep, sandy soils.

Conservation

Adenanthos x cunningamii is classified as "Priority Four - Rare" on the Western Australian Department of Environment and Conservation's Declared Rare and Priority Flora List.

As Adenanthos cunningamii it was listed as "Endangered" under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999

Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999

The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 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 culturally significant places...

 until its removal from the list in 2006. As a hybrid, it did not qualify as a species under section 528 of the Act.

It is moderately susceptible to Phytophthora cinnamomi

Phytophthora cinnamomi

Phytophthora cinnamomi is a soil-borne water mould that produces an infection which causes a condition in plants called root rot or dieback. The plant pathogen is one of the world's most invasive species and is present in over 70 countries from around the world.- Life cycle and effects on plants :P...

dieback.

Cultivation

Albany Woollybush is grown for its silvery foliage, rather than its relatively insigificant flowers, though the latter produce copius nectar that attracts honeyeaters.
Although it is from a dry summer climate, it adapts to humid summer conditions. It prefers a position in full sun or part shade and freely draining light soil. Plants can be propagated relatively easily from cuttings of semi-mature current season's growth.