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Leucospermum
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Leucospermum

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Leucospermum commonly known as pincushions, is a genus of evergreen upright, sometimes creeping shrubs that is assigned to the Proteaceae, with currently 48 known species.

Species

GENUS

  1. KingdomPlantae
  2. PhylumTracheophyta
  3. ClassMagnoliopsida
  4. OrderProteales
  5. FamilyProteaceae
Native toCape Provinces, Eswatini, KwaZulu-Natal, Mozambique, Northern Provinces, Zimbabwe
Observations recorded24,663

via GBIF · Kew POWO

Museum specimens

Specimen records
140
With media
83
Family
Proteaceae
Collections
NY, A, RSA, BPBM, MO, GH
Recorded in
South Africa, United States

Wikidata facts

Instance of
taxon
Parent taxon
Proteaceae
Image
Leucospermum erubescens.jpg
Show 7 more facts
taxon rank
genus
taxon name
Leucospermum
Commons category
Leucospermum
topic's main category
Category:Leucospermum
Commons gallery
Leucospermum
taxon common name
白子树属
Sources (1)

via Wikidata · CC0

~36 min read

Encyclopedic overview

27 sections
Contents
  • Description
  • Differences with related genera
  • Sections
  • ''Brevifilamentum''
  • ''Cardinistyle''
  • ''Conocarpodendron''
  • ''Crassicaudex''
  • ''Crinitae''
  • ''Diastelloidea''
  • ''Hamatum''
  • ''Leucospermum''
  • ''Tumiditubus''
  • Taxonomy
  • Phylogeny
  • Subdivision
  • Putative hybrids
  • Reassigned species
  • Names that cannot be assigned
  • Distribution
  • Habitat
  • Ecology
  • Pollination
  • Seed dispersal
  • Fire
  • Conservation
  • Cultivation
  • References

Leucospermum commonly known as pincushions, is a genus of evergreen upright, sometimes creeping shrubs that is assigned to the Proteaceae, with currently 48 known species.

The shrubs mostly have a single stem at their base, but some species sprout from an underground rootstock, from which the plant can regrow after fire has killed the above ground biomass. In a larger group of species, specimens are killed by fire, and their survival depends on the seeds. In all species, seeds are collected by ants, which take them to their underground nests to feed on their ant breads, a seed dispersal strategy known as myrmecochory. This ensures that the seeds do not burn, so new plants can grow from them.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Leucospermum” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

Gallery (16)