Conospermum acerosum, commonly known as Needle-leaved Smokebush, is a shrub endemic to 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 grows as a spindly shrub, either erect or sprawling, from 0.3 to 1.7 metres high. It has slender, needle like leaves up to ten centimetres long, and dense panicles of white, red or pink flowers.

Taxonomy

It was first published in John Lindley

John Lindley

John Lindley FRS was an English botanist, gardener and orchidologist.-Early years:Born in Catton, near Norwich, England, John Lindley was one of four children of George and Mary Lindley. George Lindley was a nurseryman and pomologist and ran a commercial nursery garden...

's 1839 A Sketch of the Vegetation of the Swan River Colony

A Sketch of the Vegetation of the Swan River Colony

A Sketch of the Vegetation of the Swan River Colony, also known by its standard botanical abbreviation Sketch Veg. Swan R., is an 1839 article by John Lindley on the flora of the Swan River Colony...

, based on specimens collected by James Drummond

James Drummond (botanist)

James Drummond was a botanist and naturalist who was an early settler in Western Australia.-Early life:...

. Lindley referred to it as a "strange species" that "might be mistaken for a Colletia

Colletia

Colletia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rhamnaceae, with 15 to 17 species of spiny shrubs. All species of this genus are native to southern South America. They are non-legume nitrogen fixers.-Selected species:*Colletia armata...

." It has since had a thoroughly uncomplicated taxonomic history, with no nomenclatural or taxonomic synonyms published. In 1995, however, as part of her treatment of Conospermum

Conospermum

Conospermum is a genus of 53 species in the family Proteaceae endemic to Australia. They are fairly widespread over the continent. They aren't particularly well-known to horticulture but some of the New South Wales species are known as smoke bushes....

for the Flora of Australia

Flora of Australia (series)

The Flora of Australia is a 59 volume series describing the vascular plants, bryophytes and lichens present in Australia and its external territories...

series of monographs, Eleanor Bennett published a subspecies, C. acerosum subsp. hirsutum, based on material collected in 1901 by geologist

Geologist

A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid and liquid matter that constitutes the Earth as well as the processes and history that has shaped it. Geologists usually engage in studying geology. Geologists, studying more of an applied science than a theoretical one, must approach Geology using...

 and archaeologist William Dugald Campbell; thus the autonym

Autonym (botany)

In botanical nomenclature, autonyms are automatically created names, as regulated by the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature . Autonyms are cited without an author. Relevant provisions are in articles 6.8, 22.1-3 and 26.1-3....

 C. acerosum subsp. acerosum was also invoked.

Distribution and habitat

It occurs in sandy soil, often over laterite

Laterite

Laterites are soil types rich in iron and aluminium, formed in hot and wet tropical areas. Nearly all laterites are rusty-red because of iron oxides. They develop by intensive and long-lasting weathering of the underlying parent rock...

, from the Murchison River

Murchison River (Western Australia)

The Murchison River is the second longest river in Western Australia. It flows for about from the southern edge of the Robinson Ranges to the Indian Ocean at Kalbarri. It has a mean annual flow of about 200 million cubic metres.-Course:...

 south to Cape Leeuwin

Cape Leeuwin

Cape Leeuwin is the most south-westerly mainland point of the Australian Continent, in the state of Western Australia.A few small islands and rocks, the St Alouarn Islands, extend further to the south. The nearest settlement, north of the cape, is Augusta. South-east of Cape Leeuwin, the coast...

; thus it occurs mainly within the Geraldton Sandplains

Geraldton Sandplains

Geraldton Sandplains is an Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia region in Western Australia and part of the larger Southwest Australia savanna ecoregion.It has two sub regions: -* Geraldton Hills sub region* Lesuer sub region...

 and Swan Coastal Plain

Swan Coastal Plain

The Swan Coastal Plain in Western Australia is the geographic feature which contains the Swan River as it travels west to the Indian Ocean. The coastal plain continues well beyond the boundaries of the Swan River and its tributaries, as a geological and biological zone, one of Western Australia's...

 biogeographic regions, with some populations in the Avon Wheatbelt

Avon Wheatbelt

Avon Wheatbelt is an Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia region in Western Australia and part of the larger Southwest Australia savanna ecoregion.-Further reading:...

 and Jarrah Forest

Jarrah Forest

Jarrah Forest is an Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia region in Western Australia.-Location and description:The ecoregion stands on the 300m high Yilgarn block inland plateau and includes wooded valleys such as those of Western Australia's Murray River and the Helena River near...

 regions. Its Flora of Australia entry, published in 1995, states that "there is also one doubtful collection from Norseman

Norseman, Western Australia

Norseman is a town located in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia along the Coolgardie-Esperance Highway, east of Perth and above sea level. It is also the starting point of the Eyre Highway, and the last major town in Western Australia before the South Australian border to the...

", but this is not (or is no longer) recorded within the West Australian Herbarium's FloraBase

FloraBase

FloraBase is a public access web-based database of the flora of Western Australia. It provides authoritative scientific information on 12,978 taxa, including descriptions, maps, images, conservation status and nomenclatural details...

database.