Leucospermum saxatile

Leucospermum saxatile is an evergreen, rising to sprawling shrub of 0.5–0.8 m high and 1–1.5 m (3.3–5 ft) wide, from the family Proteaceae. It has reddish tinged flowering stems and line-shaped, narrowing wedge-shaped leaves of 2.5–5 cm(1–2 in) long and 2–5 mm (0.08–0.20 in) wide, with one to three blunt teeth, whorl-shaped, flat-topped, at first pale lime green but later carmine flower heads of 2.5–3 cm across, mostly individually but sometimes grouped with two or three, each on a stalk. The flower heads occur from July to October. From the flowers occur long styles with a slightly thicker tip, which together give the impression of a pincushion. It is called Karoo pincushion in English. Flowering heads can be found from July until February. It naturally occurs in fynbos in the Western Cape province of South Africa.

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Leucospermum saxatile is a low, rising to sprawling shrub of 0.5–0.75 m (1.7–2.5 ft) high and 1–1.5 m (3.3–5 ft) wide. The reddish tinged flowering stems initially carry some soft hairs, which are soon lost, and are 2–4 mm (0.08–0.16 in) thick. The leaves are loosely pointing at an angle towards the tip of the stem, or are very rarely pointed upward, are line-shaped, narrowing wedge-shaped to the foot, 2.5–5 cm(1–2 in) long and 2–5 mm (0.08–0.20 in) wide, initially covered in powdery hairs, which are soon lost. The tip mostly has one thickened tooth, sometimes two or three and the margins often curl inwards. The flower heads are whorl-shaped (or turbinate), 2.5–3 cm (1–1¼ in) across, usually set individually but occasionally grouped with two or three, each on a stalk of 0.5–1.5 cm (0.2–0.6 in) long. The common base of the flowers in the same head is flat, approximately 7 mm (0.28 in) across. The bracts that subtend the head are lance-shaped with a pointy or pointed tip, 0.5–1 cm (0.2–0.4 in) long and about 2 mm (0.08 in) wide, cartilaginous in consistency, softly hairy, and set in four overlapping whorls. The bract that subtends each flower individually is densely silky hairy, with a regular row of equal-length hairs along the edge, lance-shaped with a pointy or pointed tip, 1¼–2.5 cm (0.5–0.6 in) long and 2–2.5 mm (0.08–0.10 in) wide. The straight 4-merous perianth is about 2 cm (0.8 in) long, initially pale lime green but later tinging carmine red. The lowest, fully merged, hairless part of the perianth, called tube is funnel-shaped and 5–6 mm (0.20–0.24 in) long. The middle part (or claws), where the perianth is split lengthwise is straight, consists of four thread-shaped sliky-hairy lobes, that curl back sharply near their tip. The upper part (or limbs), which enclosed the pollen presenter in the bud, consists of four silky-hairy, narrowly lance-shaped to linear lobes of about 2 mm (0.08 in) long. From the perianth emerges a thread-shaped style of about 3 cm (1.2 in) long, that tapers nearing the tip. The thickened part at the tip of the style called pollen presenter is bluntly cylinder-shaped, about 1 mm (0.04 in) long, and hard to distinguish from the style. The ovary is subtended by four awl-shaped, opaque scales of about 1 mm long. The subtribe Proteinae, to which the genus Leucospermum has been assigned, consistently has a basic chromosome number of twelve (2n=24). Differencies with related species Leucospermum saxatile differs from is closest relatives by the narrow wedge-shaped to linear leaves, narrowed towards the foot, with the margins often curled inwards, the lance-shaped pointed bracteoles and the initially pale green perianth.